Northern Lights
by AshRose
Summary: The truth will transform you… Drowning in memories, bound to the past, and consumed by mortal regret, the penitent former general seeks the grave and forgiveness of the true mother never known, but not before he fulfills an obligation to the flower girl whose life he once claimed.
1. The Flowers Blooming in the Shadows

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to FFVII or any of its characters.

I do take credit for some of the plot.

"**The kingdom lies beneath the foundation,**

**and the foundation is rotting above."**

**Part I**

**The General and the Rose**

"**Wind in time rapes the flower trembling on the vine…"**

**-Sarah McLachlan "Fear"**

**Chapter 1**

**The Flowers Blooming in the Shadows**

The cats were always hungry, but they were ever wary, too. Steeped in shadow like a second skin, they clung to fear over bleak starvation until necessity drove them forth. Aeris always made sure she had something for them, knowing how desperate it was to starve. People were…not kind to cats in Midgar. Their slit eyes condemned them to pain. The bandy-legged tom with only ear was always the last to approach. The other hadn't been lost in some back alley scuffle. The edges were far too clean… Then there was a calico who was almost friendly, though her eyes had been dug out of her skull. She would often approach albeit slowly to bump a flat head against Aeris's shin. Though if the Cetra reached down for her, the cat would hiss and back away. The fat white one was noticeably smaller and attended by kittens today. Even at their brief age, they stayed close and made no overt sounds. Death awaited any offspring that would give a position away.

Aeris set down the two bowls of soup and tried to rub the cold from her upper arms. There was never any wind this far below the plate, just an ever present chill. She never remembered it being this frigid in the sector of her mother's house. Dearest Elmyra…she had been a true mother, though she hadn't given her birth. Like everyone Aeris had ever loved, she counted her amongst her dead. Of the other the Cetra only remembered a hazy shade of green and a whispered plea on dying lips.

_A hundred years have come and passed, my friends are dead and gone. Yet I linger…I remain in this miserable hole that was the 'greatest city.' So called only by those who lived above. _The flower girl shook her head dispelling memories. From her birth mother she might have Ancient blood, but from Elmyra she had a house. It stood still in Sector 5 not nearly as decrepit as the rest, and in a hidden space in the basement Aeris had found a stockpile of gil that brought tears to her summer green eyes. Her once home had been ransacked when she'd found it again, her flowers all trampled to dust. Though her mother's hope had never once withered…she'd believed her daughter would return. _She wasn't wrong, but now she's long dead, and never saw her hope fulfilled._ The basement not only yielded such treasure, but was the safest place in the house. Piled high with blankets and pillows Aeris didn't care that she slept on the floor. Better that than fall prey to the rovers that scoffed at locked doors and pleading cries.

There was a skirmish at the feast and Aeris clapped her small hands, sending furry bodies into scatter. She sighed more in pity than frustration. There were never more than five or six cats, but they always seemed to be hungrier. When she didn't see one for a while, the flower girl couldn't help but worry. She'd found a few quite far from her door, but she didn't like to think about that.

One playful kitten too young to be cautious had once followed her from her house to her church whilst pouncing at rats and cockroaches artfully hidden in the endless debris. A quick shout had Aeris crouching in an alley, her basket tucked against her chest. She didn't dare call aloud and could only pray he'd be smart enough to hide, but either the kitten's mother had been lacking or she'd died before teaching him that. The flower girl could shut her eyes, but beneath covered ears she heard it nor could tears wash the memory away.

She pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head to hide the chestnut spill. The garment was a dark almost ash grey, as drab as a withered rose. It wasn't so much to shield her hair, but rather her haunting green eyes. Of all the colors to have here in Midgar, green was the worst of them all. Aeris suspected the eyeless calico had once borne orbs of that hue, doubly cursed to both be a cat and also bear that burden.

The feasters were gone now, but Aeris knew they'd return. None of the meal would be wasted for hunger was as prevalent as shadows beneath the plate. She shifted the flowerless basket on her arm and began to walk down the empty street. In her previous life there'd been neighbors and children to romp in the less decayed playground. Neither they nor Elmyra had been rich or important (you needed to live above the plate for that), but they were far better off than the wretches crammed together in poorer sectors of the slums. It was quiet as their ghosts now and no wind stirred the broken swings or the dust on rusting slides.

From here she would pass through the train yard, the moldering hulks humped like dying beasts. Aeris called then on her only friend to shield her from enemies both human and not. The former scared her far worse than any creature ever could. Monsters would only kill her. Men such as these would make her wish she were dead again. Rot had eaten holes in twisted iron to look like screaming mouths, but the metal and debris offered cover as the Planet murmured solace in her ear. Behind a once state of the art door the flower girl hid as ragged men tumbled out. They were as hungry as the cats, but she had nothing to offer which they would not forcefully take. Healthy fear kept her sharp even though she knew their pattern. She'd walked this hard path every day and had for nearly a year.

The next corridor housed the most destitute, far too broken to be a danger to her. Huddled in shacks beneath loose rubble, most did not even look when she passed. One old man would mutter only two words, over and over, "Get out." But whether he meant that sector, the city or the world, Aeris could never know. She would so carelessly drop a few gil without stopping as she walked quickly through. Peril was always imminent, less here than amongst the trains, but it made no sense to take a chance when she'd survived far worse.

When her sanctuary lay before her, Aeris remembered to breathe. It was surely a silly girl's fantasy that she was safe even here, but maybe it was the soft song from the world beneath her feet that deemed such a dream be true. As dilapidated as the rest of the city, the spires and steeple still seemed less weighted by the dust of a hundred years. The paint was chipped and faded on the half crooked doors, and most of the pews were gone, but light still spilled through the old stained glass and flowers still bloomed in the church. From vestibule to broken altar lilies white as ice breathed cloying perfume. The flower maid hummed the Planet's own tune to greet her soft-petaled friends. She remembered again her other life when blooms of all hues had grown. It had all depended on the whim of the world to decide what colors would sprout. Yellow had been the last she'd plucked before her dying day. A buttery almost sunlit splash not a color usually found in Midgar.

Aeris squeezed a hand to the place in her chest where there was no wound but memory. The pain drove her to her knees, but she forced selfishness aside to say a prayer for the weary world. Bathed in light that came through the steeple, she felt the hum of her oldest friend. _Please…_the Cetra found herself thinking,_ I don't want to be alone anymore. _Catching the sob, she opened her eyes and pursed her lips in annoyance. A swift hand brushed her reddened cheeks as the flower girl examined her flowers.

The little ones in the corner didn't get enough light and would not be ready for several weeks. Whispered words and softest touch kept even the frailest alive, but Aeris would ask no more from the Planet then what she already did. Besides the ones in the upper portion of the nave more than made up for their lack. The flowers were larger than both of her hands though that wasn't saying much. She recalled just last week the buds barely opened, bursting now with a scent that would cling. Plucking the first with apology to which she was instantly forgiven, Aeris thumbed the smooth exterior, while the dying flower's scent flavored the air.

Gathering enough to fill her basket the Cetra stood brushing her knees. The church was empty this morning, but every now and then there were others in this quiet space. No words were ever exchanged between nor were her flowers ever disturbed. For whatever reason either magic or mundane no threat ever entered here. Those who caused trouble were never drawn in and the troubled only came here to pray.

Outside the sweet miasma halted as if cut by a heavy knife, and the vestigial light from the church faded as Aeris pulled up her hood and hurried away. The center of Midgar teemed only with ghosts to shiver any warm skin they could find. The living were only here to pass through from one desolate place to the other. The flower girl slipped up the alley besides a once bright marquee that held no "love" and only "less." The great tower still stood thrusting up through the plate to rape the sky as they'd once raped the Planet. In sight of that monolith Aeris squeezed her basket tight, the lilies shushing as they shook.

"How much?"

She startled and quickly chided herself for letting someone take her unawares. There was no safety in Midgar for one such as her whose main weapons were hide and run.

"A gil," she said to the man greyer in skin then his drab hued clothes. He handed her a coin and she gave him a bloom, which he twirled slowly in dusty fingers.

"My daughter…has never seen a flower." He watched the petals spin. "They're like pieces of light down here…and you're giving them away." His gaze quick flicked towards her, and Aeris lowered her head. A patron could turn into a predator fast. It had happened too often before, but his eyes soon dulled and turned back to the flower, clutching it tight to walk away.

When he was gone she found the tower again, and the Planet pulsed drab rhythm slow. She held neither anger nor rue for them. They just were as they'd always been. Logic told her that someone must still work inside for the city had power still. The thought hurt her sad, unbroken heart, but how much worse would the slums be if not? Utter darkness would fall beneath the plate and the slum-born would only die blind.

She forced herself away from the sight and the thought, walking around the central point. Around she went in silence having no need to cry her wares. If someone wanted a flower, they would offer and she would give. One dark dressed matron bought ten for ten gil not bothering to hide her tears. Her child was dead and soon to be buried. "No sun..." was the reason she said. Aeris prayed for the soul, asking silent query and the Planet was not remiss in reply. Smiling sadly she handed ten lilies and gave five gil back in return.

To children she would charge nothing to twine smaller blossoms softly in their hair. Boy or girl it did not matter and most of them urchins at that. As they wove laughing between the hollow buildings Aeris prayed the flowers would wither long before their hopes ever could. _Surely my purpose will help them, _she thought as they were sucked into shadow and steel.

She would try to save a few flowers as the changing lights told of eve. Yellow-tinged orbs on top of black poles that slowly faded to blue, surely mocking the sun and sky. Those were definitely new and she wondered who'd built them and more so if they still lived. Before they changed red to herald the night that was the time to be gone. As before the only law sought in the slums was the law of strength and power. Rapists and killers ruled the hours in red, though blue and yellow were truly theirs, too. Time down here didn't matter. The city was always dark. There wasn't a day the flower girl didn't expect to be raped or murdered. It was a terrible, omnipresent fact, but one can grow used to any chain. She lived her life in that reality's shadow and ordered her days by its grasp.

Aeris hitched up her basket, made sure her gil was safe, and let the music of the Planet fill her mind. The note was urging, and she smiled thinking, _Alright dear friend if you insist...the dead must have their due. _It was the sector that no longer existed, crushed by the plate from above. On the very edge of the central hub with its herald of twisted metal and debris. Abandoned cars and train scraps made a barricade, but it was impossible not to see what had occurred. A hundred years murdered the dead still hungered, Aeris could feel them in the Lifestream's swell. It was a memory that she'd made herself take, though it pained her to near nausea. Once her friends had gathered beneath this rotting steel, dropped from the sky by those who played god. Was it equal that they, too, were dead? Caught in the same tide that filled them all? Tears had soaked the ends of her hood, and Aeris pushed it back with lowered head. Her friends had not died from this act of evil, but had been stolen from her by time. The Planet's mournful thrill shivered through her skin as the flower girl laid her offering. Dust and trampling feet would take the blooms, and she thought it was fitting that way.

A clarion shrill from the earth below nearly shook her from her feet and the Cetra whirled around. Her uncovered hair had tumbled forth and she pushed it aside to search. With a gentle chide for her dear friend's alarm, Aeris let her pulse slow its quiver until the muted colors coalesced into three men leering there.

_You stupid, stupid child! _Calmly she thumbed her basket to hide the quake in her hands. The tangled wood creaked releasing both musk and the sweetness of the flowers so borne. She forced her gaze to pass through the shapes, quickly scanning the central square. All those of honest repute were long gone to huddle in sectors drear, and the light from the lamps was jaundiced and sickly knowing it must soon bleed.

Aeris walked quickly, but did not run, for running just goads dogs on. The earth beneath concrete was fouled and tired, but it still guided her feet. Not through the corridor she'd come through earlier for she wouldn't lead them to church or house. Sliding past dark hovels and shacks she witnessed numerous watching eyes. Her lips parted once to call for help until she remembered that there was none. A trash can darted in front of her feet before the flower girl realized she was running. With hard, tight breaths she stuffed her hair back before the flying locks gave them their prize. Chancing only one look Aeris saw the faint glint of a smile smeared in the gloom. This was a game and she was losing, but that was no reason to give in. A hum from beneath filled her legs lightly and made them stumble down an unfamiliar grade.

A ragged once red curtain allowed Aeris to pass, bumping into a body with no breath to beg for grace. It would hardly have mattered for the crowd was so great, her rudeness went wholly unnoticed. Shock widened her eyes before she remembered the need to hide and threat apparent. Her pursuers pointed with grins as soiled as the air, and she ducked to slip through the throng. No one seemed to notice the small maid in their midst, while in her head the Planet sang joyful.

_Here, dear friend? _She questioned as she remembered finally where she was. It was the place in Sector 6 once known as Wall Market. It wasn't called anything now in these darker days, but the whorehouse was still there. The whores were as pitiful as everyone else, though they never lacked for work. Aeris recalled as she brushed through the crowd that she'd once peddled her flowers down here. One of the girls had noticed her and asked if she'd sell something more. Then another had appeared behind and roughly pulled back the hood of her cloak. "No," she'd told them standing firm, "this one 'flower' will never be sold." The Planet had lent her authority, and they'd left her alone, but Aeris remembered their eyes, hollow as the heart of a storm.

Even the whores were still in this lie of an eve with no moon or star to show truth. Everyone was looking in just one direction as the grade of the ground pulled descent. She was too short to see the enrapturing spectacle even standing on her toes, but the rumble of taut emotions frightened her and yet fed the maid's need to know. The Planet nudged her closer, half lifting her feet as voices crescendo drowned out all thought. The front row stood as rigid as though in vigil to the damned, and the obscenities burned her pink to the ears. She was half tempted to cut their curses with a question, when the line shifted and Aeris saw.

A figure was kneeling behind bars so cold she felt their frost touch where she stood. His wrists were bound before him upon the hard ground with chains thicker than her waist, and behind him his ankles still encased in black boots were shackled just as tight. Around his neck was an iron collar from which chains in all directions did sprout. Some connected to his wrists and some to his ankles, while the rest tied him to the cell floor. Over his collar and over the black and over his lowered face hair silver as the stolen moon spilled like liquid light. It wove through the chains and pooled on the floor, lightning wed to fire. He could have been a statue so bound for resemblance for that was as much as he moved.

Aeris's heart squeezed around her fear as her basket cut groves in her palm, but her feet rode the Planet to carry her forward despite the maid's desperate pleas. Her dearest friend skirled through her soul, almost painting light before her eyes. Around her the angry and hateful mob spat and seethed and swore, but not a one of them dared to draw too close. _It can't be him, _Aeris thought, _he's been dead as long as me. No, it's just some poor unfortunate who looks close enough to paint this lie. _She'd seen such cruelty in the slums and not just with the cats. There were mothers with eyeless children whom they'd blinded themselves so that others less gentle would not. Hair too blonde would surely be dyed. _But his could never have been called blonde…_

The cell was right before her dark to his winter white as the crowd became distant dream. She placed a slim hand around the black bars and he slowly lifted his head. A green as bright as frost cut emerald demolished all shreds of her doubt, and she wanted to scream for the incongruent horror of slit pupils in angelic face. The very corruption she'd sworn to fight was leaking from his eyes, but as he found her his lips split in part, and Aeris pressed her face against the bars. Her breath was the only sound in the world as she met that unholy stare, but as quick as she could blink he turned away, bowing his head ever low.

A man stepped through a door in the back grinning like the jackal he was. He held some object in his hand, but Aeris couldn't see what it was. The wretched figure bound in chains neither stirred nor made sound at his presence, but the row of the crowd more than made up, and Aeris trembled at the triumph there.

"There are some of you here who still don't believe what you see before your eyes." His voice projected better than a bullhorn as if it had been created for just such work. "Some of you who think I'm a charlatan and that I've found some poor, white-haired wretch." A portion of the crowd on the other side of the cage repeated charlatan, liar and fraud. The jailer grinned and his front tooth was gold as if proving his words were as good. He lunged for his prize and gripped silver hair, pulling his head high and back. Bathed in the light of a thousand emeralds, the closest onlookers stepped back as they hissed. The jailer twisted his hand within the bright strands, but nothing could break his prisoner's silence. Letting go with a shove, the man rubbed his fingers as if to brush off the taint of bright locks. "You see I'm not a liar. Here kneels before you the one-winged angel, the one who thought to be a god!" He laughed and the mob shared his dark mirth, but Aeris only had eyes for the fallen. His face was lowered again surely in pain, but no expression did he bear. Behind her she heard a growing chant of "torture, torment, and give him our pain," and she thought, _What else could he possibly do? _But the flower girl was too innocent to consider it as the jailer squeezed the item in his hand.

The captive's head jerked back as arcs of light doused every chain like white blood. They wrapped around his wrists and collar, trying everything to release a scream. But it was well known that he was made better, and she saw only clenched teeth behind lips. Aeris's mouth was open as her breath came too fast and something burned behind her eyes. They were using the Planet's precious lifeblood to torture the already damned. The souls of the ages, the souls yet to live were being corrupted for this torment.

When the power ceased coursing he returned once more to his first and final pose. The crowd was ecstatic, and she stared at them wondering if her purpose were to save fiends such as this. The jailer ignited his device again, and the throng swayed in grim satisfaction. The Cetra wished the sky was truly above so she could pretend the moisture on her face was rain. She had the greatest cause to hate him, but this sight before brought only pity. How long the torment went on the flower girl did not know. The lights were always red down here. It was the district for such a display, but even the vengeful have other tasks and the crowd finally began to disperse. The jailer watched them pass to the shiver of gil that twinkled the yellow of his smile. One final shock appeased him as he left his wretched captive to collect his take for this dim eve. Aeris could not leave the silent figure as the once market emptied around. There was a stoicism in his stillness that mocked the bitter pain, and the flower girl did not know if her heart hurt to this or the memory of what had been.

An iron vice gripped her upper arm, hauling the flower girl around, and she was sore ashamed of her whimper as a man threw her against the wall.

"You came to the right place for what we want." He leered as the other two smiled in the grime, closing off any hope of escape.

"A f-flower?" She scrabbled for her basket and the remnants of petals there. He smacked them from her hand and pulled Aeris closer with lean and hungry strength.

"Oh, we'll take a 'flower' alright." His eyes skittered over her like rats amongst fresh grain. "Might be we'll even pay you afterwards." That called a full-throated laugh.

"We already decided the order." The second one stepped from the gloom. His hair was lank and fell over one ear, and his face was so pinched it must hurt. "We was only going to take you once each, but you made us chase you, so that earns us a few more rounds."

"Please…" she begged as the first man grabbed her wrists. "Please don't do this. I'm nobody."

"Oh, we know you're nobody," her captor tittered. "Just another slum girl, though prettier'n most, and there's a host of buyers who'd pay some nice gil for that shade of green in your eyes. Dangerous, don't you think, boys?" He threw the grin over his shoulder as his companions caught it to return.

The third laughed so loud it echoed. "Dangerous isn't the word." He spun a short knife. "Downright deadly I'd say. If we hadn't come along this little flower could've ended up like _that _wretch chained in there." He tilted his chin with a smirk toward the dark.

"You should be thanking us." Her captor squeezed her arm and Aeris forced the cry back down. "Such a waste to have you caged…" He pressed her hard against the wall feeling for himself the soft flesh that waited just beneath her cloak.

The flower girl lost all hope in prayer for help that would never come. She tried to wrench free, but he was far too strong and twisted her wrist until she screamed. Her nails were quite roughed from digging in dirt, and she raked them down his arm. He smacked her hard as the other two chuckled letting their partner have his fun. Holding her reddened wrist, the man gripped the throat of her covering and ripped down hard and swift. A brown, modest dress swam into view, but it still tore lust from his eyes.

Aeris was begging and crying for mercy as he threw her to the ground. Through smeared vision and throbbing cheek she cast her mind out for her friend, but the Planet must have forsaken her for no pulse lay beneath her prone form.

"Now." Her soon to be rapist made some motion around his belt. She struggled to stand until he kicked out her ankles, casual as skimming a stone. "You be a good girl and we'll leave your face pretty, let you keep your eyes, and maybe even pay you, but…be a little bitch and I swear you'll look worse than your c-"

Confusion knit his brows together and dropped his hands to his sides. Aeris clutched her wrist with tight teeth, sobbing pleas to his better nature.

The two so waiting called out, "Worse than what?" and "Come on, we want our turn!" when their comrade fell backwards, his head striking his knees before bouncing wetly on blood slickened ground. Mirth turned to madness, and they spun around to flee, but their shrieks and hands met solid wall.

Aeris scrambled backwards covering her mouth to stop the bile of revulsion there. Her assaulter's confusion was still etched on his face tilted slightly on shorn neck below. Never would he know the death that had claimed him standing so tall behind. Gone was the grovel of a wretched captive though the collar still ringed his neck. Silver hair flowed over black garb, and Aeris forgot how to breathe. The very sword that had taken her life was shimmering in his left hand. Weeping hot blood it seemed almost to whisper, the only sound save the rats in the walls.

The eyes of the dead man stared slackly at her as though even in death he still lusted. His cronies, now as tongueless as he, scrabbled at the wall til their nails cracked like eggs and blood seeped through the fissures. There was nowhere to run but towards certain death as it stood silent and still in their way. The third who'd loved laughing could not even weep, but his footfalls proved he could run. Aeris barely saw the brief flash of steel, but she could not look away as he clutched his own entrails with no room in his throat for a scream. The concrete took his guts without any question, but the earth was still silent in her ears. _Why dear friend?! _She wanted to scream. _Why have you forsaken me?! _But even had she spoken, her pleas would not match the blubbering of the second and last.

The great sword unshaken drew a line to his heart, and begging would gain him no mercy. His dead partner had been failed by his feet, but perhaps he would succeed. He made it past with belly intact, and leapt over his friend who had not, but when his feet found the ground behind him was the shadow and a portion of steel bloomed from his chest.

A noise escaped Aeris's lips. It could not be helped. She knew how cold that sword was as it slid slow between shoulder blades, washed in the blood of sacrifice. The scrape of steel over living bone was a new sound to her ears, but the silence that followed as his death cries drowned was all too deeply known. Her hands folded in remembrance of unfinished prayer, as her murderer turned towards her. The darkness of the slums only existed to radiate hot Mako gleam without pity. Sword newly ripped from his victim they found her, and no expression dared touch that face. Silent boots swiftly approached, and the last thing the flower girl thought before oblivion was she was his alone to kill.

Author's Note:

Chapter 2 will be posted next Friday April 3.


	2. The Spoils of War

"**Heaven help the wayward soul that travels toward becoming whole,**

**But never gets to see the kingdom come."**

**-November Project "Are You Sleeping?"**

**Chapter 2**

**The Spoils of War**

_You will hold the hand of death and let him speak your name…_

Aeris's eyes were shut, but she was awake and the scent around her was divine, a far cry from rotting garbage and filth sweating stones. The music of the Planet had finally returned, and she smiled at the world's whim to symbolize her passage to the Lifestream in this way. She was a slum girl. She had never once flown so it was nice that the Planet would mimic. The sounds around though were still rustle and scrape, and in the distance there was a faint scream.

Opening her eyes to rusty, dim light, Aeris blinked blurriness away. She turned her head and cold embraced her face from cheekbone to slender jaw. The ground beneath was swift flowing by with the smooth step of silent boots. At that same moment something shifted beneath, and gasping she flung her gaze up.

The face above her was an empty mask as he walked without sound through the gloom. Carrying her easily in his right arm with the Masamune clutched on the left. The decrepit hovels seemed to dim at his passing as though terrified to rival such light. A dog half-barked with the other side a whimper, scraping trash with its belly to hide, and if human eyes were watching, they prayed this was a nightmare with its victim already caught.

Before Aeris could even think to resist, he tightened his arm around, but when a maid is being held by her murderer, it is a hard task not to fight. So struggle she did 'til he turned his head and uttered only, "Be still." And she was…instantaneously, as though his voice had bound her bones. Not that Aeris could've moved despite that. She was paralyzed by his one arm.

"Please…" The word was bare whispered but still soiled her tongue. "Please, please don't hurt me." But this was her murderer come again, and she was a spoil of war. He had killed three men tonight in order to get to her. Nor did she expect her new death to be quick as her old one had mercifully been. No…this he would savor by raping her first then playing her screams up the length of his sword. She bit her lip, but the cry escaped accompanied by shameful tears.

He shook his head and she shivered to the sweep of silver against her skin. His eyes were lowered and very near closed, but the light still bled on his cheeks. "Do you believe I saved your life to spill your blood in rape and murder?"

He was a meddler of minds of course he'd know her fear to bring it to fruition. "Why else?" Her voice quavered bringing more shame. "I was always yours to kill..."

He shut his eyes fully and tight before looking up to the foundation above. His left hand tightened on the wrapped hilt of the sword, and Aeris clutched both of hers to her chest. At least they were free and his face was in reach and certainly that long, flowing hair. She glanced at her nails so jagged and short and considered her ghost of a chance. _He'd just make me pay dearly for my second death and it would be that much more gruesome. _The Cetra quaked as vibrant in her heart the Planet echoed the words, _Be still._

"Wh-Why are you doing this? Why did you save me?"

He froze with sword tracing a path in the air leaving light where it cut the gloom. Whatever he had seen ran away from those eyes brighter than even the blade. When he began to walk again Aeris could hardly tell, but she still recognized the sector even held high in his arms. This was the place where most of the urchins did dwell when not picking through the central hub. They were sprawled all over the debris strewn ground, making twisted metal and cement their home. Some were consigned to the open, clutching each other in sleep, no pattern or sense to their arrangements, but peaceful wherever they fell. Her captor stepped with grace in between, and not a one awoke from certainly brighter dreams to know that death left them untouched.

"The past can never be forgiven," he murmured, ducking through corridor low, "and I owe you a life…"

"Wh-what are you going to do with me?"

"Where do you live?"

Her brow wrinkled around her flickering gaze, caught off guard and still unsure. "I-I live in Sector 5."

He nodded. "Then I'm going to take you home."

It was clearly the house with the remnants of blooms as though she still tended dead gardens. The others were boarded, empty, and dull, but the sector held more than just them. Hungry shapes were silhouetted in the corner of his eyes, disappearing in Mako gleam.

Aeris prayed in silence to the Planet, expecting the moment of death any time, but when she saw her mother's house, she choked on her plea to think blood would be spilled in this place. Her murderer carried her up the stairs, narrowing his eyes on the door. He glanced at her and then at the sword, and the flower girl, ignoring her dear friend's advice, could not help but struggle against. He tightened his arm again as though it were an afterthought, and murmured once more, "Be still."

Again the words held her as the flower girl wept, watching her death lift his weapon. He released the sword and it hovered in air before fading from her view. Aeris gasped as his command lost its power, and she jerked herself forward to see.

"H-How did you do that?"

He slid his gaze back, head tilted to her awe. "It's part of me. It has my blood, and the blood always remembers."

"I don't understand. What do you mean that 'it's part of you?'"

He sighed and stepped up to her door. "When the Masamune was forged they took a vial of my blood and mixed it with molten metal so my cells and it are one. If I call it, it will come. If I banish it, it will go."

"But where is it now?"

"Between," he replied.

"Between what?" Her voice raised in confusion.

"Just between…it's difficult to explain."

He turned the knob and opened the door as Aeris called out, "But it's locked…"

He shrugged and ducked through as the lintel low brushed the pale hair on his crown.

_Now is where I die in my poor mother's house. Dear friend, are you truly this cruel?_

It was darker than the leather that fell to his knees, but that mattered not to eyes that gleamed. Aeris covered hers in terror for the sight of green light shining forth from his face.

"Can you stand?" His voice echoed lowly within the confines of the walls, and she jumped to the reverberation.

"Y-Yes…" Her voice squeaked in response to his. "He…didn't hurt me much." _You saved me before that happened. _ It was too strange to say and wouldn't pass her lips. Slowly and quite gently she was lowered to the floor, and as her feet touched she scrambled away. Light flooded the room, more yellowed and muted than the Mako green of her captor's eyes.

Aeris shivered backing away to put a chair between him and her. Not that it would do any good, but something was better than nothing. His hands were clasped now behind his back as he regarded her with unblinking stare. The lamp that he'd turned on glinted off the bright epaulets that adorned both of his shoulders, and the black coat beneath fell below his high boots with their buckles bright around. Beneath high lapels and nearly hidden the iron collar clutched his neck. His face was angelic and more framed by that hair though it was spotted with blood. The flower girl hid her shudder to wonder if hers had ever stained silver pristine.

"May I use your shower?" She jumped again at his voice and nearly blushed to her revealed scrutiny.

"I…of course." Her hand didn't shake much as she gestured to the stairs, and he nodded before making ascent. The scrape of metal on the wooden banister assailed her ears, and she remembered his wrists were bound, too. When he disappeared, Aeris sank to a crouch wrapping her arms around her knees. Her breath came too quick to sustain such momentum, and only a few tears squeezed now from her eyes. She forced herself stand and peek out the window, but her friends of the morning were gone. Circumstances had brought her home late, and they'd sought their supper elsewhere. _If "circumstances"_ _are what I can call _him. Her own stomach was empty, and the day had been long. She lifted her head as water flowed from above.

Soup was her main staple since it was easy and the materials to make it were cheap. The meat was always questionable, but it had yet to make her sick. Potatoes, mushrooms, and other roots grew well in the endless dark, and there was almost a black market for ought else. Aeris counted herself fortunate to have the means to purchase, though still wished she could leave the slums to go to the places they'd grow. But the flower maid dare not set foot outside of her circle, tenuous as it was. Her home, her church, and the central hub were the safest places she knew. _And look what happened anyway. _She shuddered, picking up a wrinkled potato. It smelled of earth, and she fought tears at the odor, feeling half-bad as she skinned it raw.

The broth was thin enough to swirl it easily, but the smell was still sweet seasoned by need. Aeris thought of those poor souls in the sector of the children. _I should be bringing them soup instead of flowers…what good do my blooms even do? _The Planet buzzed in her ear like a persistent fly chastising the thought, and the flower girl sighed filling a bowl. She turned to the table and almost screamed to the sight of her forgotten guest. Soup sloshed over her shaking hand, and she only did not let it go. The table cloth drank the excess without pity, showing stain only between the checks.

The breath slid fast past Aeris's lips as she clutched her hands to her heart. His clothes were the same, but his hair shone like silver spun from liquid light. She had thought it bright even when he was caged, but compared to this it had been dull as rainwater. His head was lowered within the moonlit spill, face still bearing that empty mask. Aeris had never seen anything more beautiful or more terrifying in either of her lives. She glanced down at the table where the one bowl steamed and blushed at her rudeness then.

"Are you…are you hungry?"

He lifted his gaze and she backed up a bit, placing her back against the counter. He'd banished the sword, but she could still feel it in the memory between her bones.

"It's been a long time since I've eaten." The tone didn't answer her question. He was just stating a fact such as "I am your murderer," or "I want to burn down the world," but the only thing she managed to do at that moment was fill another bowl and place it across from hers. His boots were still as silent on the cracked wood, so if she hadn't seen him move, she never would've known.

Aeris was backed as far as she could without bolting from the room, but as he neared, he said, "Thank you," and a portion of her muscles relaxed. She remained where she was against the counter, as he continued to stare at her. "I can take it outside if you wish me to so that you can eat in peace."

Breath escaped she didn't realize she was holding, and the flower girl bit her lip. "I'm being rude." She stood up straight, but her foot wouldn't take the step. "Th-That's no way to treat…a guest."

"A guest…" he repeated his voice a flat stone for the bitter irony. He lowered his eyes a frown tainting his lips despite their perfect shape. Aeris forced herself to tiptoe to her chair and slip slowly into the seat. Only then did he follow suit, and he waited for her to begin eating her own before mimicking that motion, as well.

Aeris tried not to think of what would happen next or what he would do to her. He could move faster than she could think or blink. She'd seen it when he had killed those three men, but the only motion he made besides spoon to mouth was to toss his damp hair aside. Vigilance was making her exhaustion more manifold than most of her other nights. With a jerk to stir her sleepy limbs, the maid climbed from her chair. Instantly, he rose, too, and she quavered with small sound in her throat. Clenching her fists, she tried to take comfort from the fact that he had not harmed her yet, but the darker past was encroaching hard upon uncertain future.

"I know my words mean nothing," he said softly, "but I won't hurt again. I'm not the same monster that killed you, child. That was something else…a long time ago."

Aeris blinked, stirring tears in her wide green eyes, the hue of grass she'd never seen. The Planet hummed softly and she wondered at its treachery in terror that he'd corrupted it at last. She wanted to believe but knew he was a master of manipulation, and the sorrow so hidden behind his stark mask could just be another game.

"I'm…tired," she said and he nodded only watching as she walked gingerly past. Sighing Aeris tugged at the basement door, but that action yielding no open, and she was confused until his shadow fell. He was leaning on the old wood with his head cocked to the side, asking query with still expression. The flower girl leapt back away from proximity and the scent of leather above winter skin.

"Why would you sleep in the basement?" he asked.

"It's…the safest place in the house." She clutched her hands because that was certainly no longer so. Her reason garnered narrowed eyes which focused the light directly on her face. There was a pull to them and Aeris jerked away frightened to be caught in such swells.

"The roving gangs of thieves and rapists would love to find something like me…y-you saw that tonight."

"They won't trouble you this evening, child. If you'll allow, I'll guard you tonight…it's the least that I can do."

She looked the far way up at his unblinking gaze, but there was no mockery there. His expression was expectant, and Aeris finally sighed. "Alright, but…give me a few minutes?"

He nodded to her request and she truly tried to turn, but she couldn't show her back to him. Backing to the stairs she bolted up, and he briefly shut his eyes. The two bowls had been left on the table, so he cleaned and put them away. It was a servile, pedestrian task, but far better than entrails and blood. He darkened the light for he didn't need it then opened the basement door. The steps would've creaked for another, but were silent under his weight, nor did shadows dare to dance even in the glow of his eyes.

The space beneath was as clean as she could make it, but he still frowned at the image of the little maid forced to dwell beneath. He easily found her pile of bed clothes, blankets and pillows in a hidden corner. They were behind a partial wall with some wooden slats stacked around. A quick eye glancing would just see discarded rags and hopefully not an innocent trembling there. Each inch of musty floor was caught in green light and summarily dismissed as safe. He turned his inspection then to the walls. The top corner near the water heater was crumbling, but with the moisture that was expected.

A long finger traced a biased crack in the middle beneath a beam, and at the touch his teeth came together behind his lips. Something hissed behind that fissure underneath his pressed ear. Tiny nails ceaselessly scratching as if a thousand rats had gone insane trapped within the walls. He poured incandescence into the crack, but not even Mako eyes could discern any source. It was half in his head to summon the sword, but then he unclenched his left hand. Perhaps something within her house just didn't like him. That was hardly an idea farfetched.

Gathering up the blankets and pillows, he ascended the basement and upper stairs. He knew exactly where she was even without the need to search. The candles on the table flickered at his entrance as if they were subdued by greater light. He laid the bedding on a mattress far larger than one her minute size could fill, and it saddened him that she'd been forced to forgo this comfort for false safety beneath the floor.

The little maid was nowhere to be seen, but he didn't require sight to hunt. "There's no need to hide from me, child…I already know where you are." His words were calm and not meant to be menacing, but her panic came to his enhanced senses. He sighed, went to the foot of the bed, and easily lifted it with one hand.

Aeris cried out in horror, trying to scrunch herself smaller near the top. Her shaking was uncontrollable and at the sight of that green lit fire she couldn't stop her tears. "Please, please…" She didn't know what to beg for. She had no armor to keep herself safe.

"I won't hurt you, little flower…" he murmured so low. "I won't hurt you again."

His voice was too soothing. She didn't want to believe. _This is a trick. _Her mind cried in crescendo, but the Planet itself gently chastised, and Aeris just lost all hope. All she knew and all she trusted were against her now. She might as well resign herself to fate. He could kill or rape her at any moment, now or an hour hence. There was nothing she could say or do that would stop him. The mercy she'd depended on for so long had finally run its course.

Like a prisoner expecting punishment, the flower girl crawled out from under the bed. He laid it back down as easily as he'd raised it observing her picking at the sleeve of her robe. Her chestnut and amber hair had been braided just now from what he quietly observed, and he backed closer to the window so that she wouldn't feel so trapped.

"H-How did you know where I was?"

He glanced to the side and the pulse of the candles lent wane light to his angel face. "I can hear the sound of your heartbeat, the shush of your breath, and smell the scent of your skin."

There was no shudder left in her, but she did clasp her small hands.

"You…can?"

"Yes."

She tilted her head in genuine curiosity.

"What…what do I smell like?"

The mask almost cracked but he was quick to catch it before it could fall. "You smell like summer…"

"Oh." Aeris's hands fell as fast as her face. "I wish I remembered what summer smelled like…" She laid a hand to the bed then and turned surprised for the softness, noticing the covers he had brought up. "Oh you…how did you know?" He shrugged in response, and she set about fixing them on and upon the mattress. When he made move to assist, Aeris ran across the room to tremble near the closet door, so he let her be to stand by the window and watch the candles burn.

"Why candles?" he asked when he heard her finish and climb into the newly made bed.

"They don't take from the Planet," she answered, and he turned to her staring at him with the blankets up to her chin. "I…try to use as little power as possible." She did not mention that that very power was leaking in abundance from his eyes, but he could hear breath and heartbeat and could possibly steal into her thoughts. He merely nodded to acknowledge before standing vigilance outside her door. The hallway beyond was much less dark with his eye gleam in attendance, and any potential intruders would be scared out of their wits if they were lucky and dead if they were not.

Aeris's slim fingers clutched the bed clothes so tight that they began to cramp. Her eyes were drying out with the need to blink as she viewed the waterfall of silver against leather black. His hands were clasped against it and she frowned slightly at the bonds. Shackles with short chains still circled each wrist though the ones around his boots were gone.

"Sephiroth?" It was a name that should either be whispered or screamed and the former hushed past her lips.

He turned his head and the light from his eyes spilled over his shoulder, igniting the epaulet there. "Yes, child?"

"…thank you."

"This is the least I can do for you…now sleep. No danger will find you tonight."

At his word of "sleep" her eyelids turned solid, and she curled without thought into dreams. He turned his face back to dark draped hallway and with one gesture the candles went black.

* * *

Author's Note: Thank you everyone who favorited and reviewed! Your kind and encouraging words elevate my soul and make me look forward to posting every week. Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past is a much longer installment and, as established, will be available to read Friday April 10.


	3. Shadows of the Past

"**This is a warning to us all**

**These are the shadows of the past…"**

**-Les Miserable**

**Chapter 3**

**Shadows of the Past**

The candles were not even smoking and the room would shame mourning with black. Aeris jolted straight up in bed with a cry as she opened her eyes. Twin shafts of green light pierced her, and the flower girl released a full scream. A snap set the candles to burning again as if they'd never ceased. Her murderer sat in the old stuffed chair holding a book in his hand. The shuffling flames could not rival the Mako, but it was less blatant in natural light.

"I didn't mean to startle you, little one."

"It's…it's alright." Her racing breath allowed itself to be caught as she pushed tendrils of hair from her face. "I just never leave myself in complete darkness." She rubbed an arm, hoping he wouldn't think her foolish before wondering why she cared.

"I understand." And Aeris relaxed before realizing that she had. That earned him a look to take note of the tattered book in his grip.

"Were you…were you reading?"

"Yes. Does that surprise you?"

"No, not the reading part at all, but there wasn't any light."

"I don't need light to see."

"How do you see?" Her little face turned quite earnest as she leaned forward a bit.

Sephiroth tilted his head to the side, and she must've imagined the slight lift of his lips. "Very well. Better in the dark than you can in the light."

"I know that…I meant _how _do you see? Is your vision all narrow like looking through a crack in a wall?"

He wasn't moving yet became so still she could believe he had turned to stone. It was unsettling and eerie and the imagined smile was gone. "…you're asking because of my cat eyes? Do they frighten you, child?"

"Maybe a little…" She bit her lip, unsure why she was embarrassed. "You…you don't seem to blink."

"Not unless something gets in my eyes, which is rare because of my lashes." He lowered his lids and she witnessed their splendor against his marble skin. Incredibly long and surprisingly dark despite the silver hair.

"They're…beautiful." It came out before she could tame it.

"They're functional," he allowed laying the book on his lap. "That and nothing more."

"What book were you reading?" She noticed it in the motion.

"Just a volume of old poems I found on your shelf." He picked it back up between two fingers, and the air grew hushed as he read.

"_We have lingered in the chambers of the sea,_

_By sea girls wreathed in seaweed red and brown._

'_Til human voices wake us and we drown."_

She tried to hide the shudder, but those eyes missed little in their gleam.

"I apologize," he said quickly, closing the book on the table now. "I didn't mean to remind you of your death."

"It's alright," she replied. "I…didn't really drown, you know."

"Yes, child…I do."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Aeris asked a little vexed. He wasn't _that_ much older than her and death should've made them equal.

He moved too quickly to follow, but she still cringed away to him kneeling before her bed.

"Wh-What are you doing?" she squeaked, squeezing the bed clothes tight.

But he didn't respond and just knelt there in silence head low as his hair spilled around. It was more silvery grey at the roots before falling to moonlight and ashes. He looked as he had when she'd first seen him, a wretched captive bound in chains. The collar was still around his neck. He'd not removed it in the night. The cuffs on his wrists scraped against the floor as if they were the ones trying to escape.

"You ask why I call you 'child.' Because I'm not worthy to say your name let alone be in your presence."

Aeris's heartbeat rang in her ears so it must've deafened him.

"I'm not the same monster that killed you. That was something else a long time ago, but my hand was the one that wielded the sword, and for that there's no forgiveness."

The flower girl's fingers unclenched from the blanket as the Planet swirled sweetly within. Uncertain if touched by her own madness, Aeris pulled herself closer to the edge.

"Can I see your hand?"

He lifted his face at her request, presenting his left to her.

"W-Without the glove." He immediately removed both of them and his palm was so white it could blind.

The flower girl shivered, remembering the sword had been drawn from the air on that side. She forced her hand to hover above his as he stared at her unblinking. With no expression on his face, his pupils were shaped to cut. It was as though emerald light had been slashed open for darkness to seep starkly through. Aeris forced her gaze away before terror had her running. With a silent prayer to the Planet, she lowered her hand towards his.

When her fingers touched his skin, Aeris braced for coldness, but found a surprising, abundant heat. She also couldn't help but notice how tiny her hand looked on the broad plain of his palm. His fingers were well made and long enough to easily wrap around her throat. She swallowed that thought along with her shock as she studied his passive face.

"I…can't feel it anymore."

"Feel what, child?" His eyes were half veiled and his lashes danced in Mako light.

"The…the wrongness, the horror. I…won't say its name…"

"Neither will I. There's no reason to call up more horrors of the past…I think I am enough."

He lowered his head to hard shut eyes and that moonlight hair tumbled before. Aeris was trying to fathom what was happening for contrition could not dwell within him. Her fingers on his hand softened, and though she trembled the flower girl let them sink down palm to palm. Warmth radiated up from his skin in an impossible rush, and she didn't know what to do. She'd expected the creep of corruption, but what she'd found couldn't be believed.

"Where are all your friends, child? Why are you alone?" He lifted his head and tossed his hair away and out of his face.

"They're…dead, Sephiroth," she whispered. "Do you know how long it's been?"

He shook his head, and the whisper of silver shivered on leather black.

"A hundred years. They've been gone a long time."

"Even Strife and Valentine?" His voice sharpened to steel and he narrowed his eyes, which made their heat more focused. Aeris snatched away her hand with a whimper. It was the "great general's" voice unforgotten by time, its force filling her small bedroom.

"Y-Yes…"

Sephiroth put his hand on the floor though it was now a fist. He cast his gaze about, shaking his head. "How is that possible? They were like me…"

"I don't understand what you mean." Aeris was holding her hands up to her face and shaking too hard to run away.

He had been murmuring questions to himself, but stopped to give her his attention. "I'm sorry, child. I didn't mean to frighten you. They had…_its _cells swimming in their veins. Unless they were killed by something greater, this short time would not bring them to end. It is a bitter travesty." He lowered his head. "That I live and they now rot. Do you know how they died?"

"No, I don't," she assured him. "I was in the Lifestream when it happened. I felt their souls pass within, but I never saw them…I never saw any of them. There is only an echo in my heart of where they all used to be…"

There could be nothing worse than what happened next. Tears formed in her summer green eyes as her murderer knelt on her bedroom floor, but Sephiroth did not shame her for them as his other fist clenched in its cuff.

"I'm sorry…" She wiped her face with a sleeve and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Don't apologize to me, little one," he whispered his eyes wide in utter shock. He tamed his expression back to near blank, and Aeris remembered to breathe again. "So you were there for a hundred years?"

"Yes…" She wondered how much she should tell him and if the Planet would count that betrayal. A stream of music twirled through her ears, and she assumed her dear friend was on board. "I was…there to stop you when you called the meteor down. Your…killing me…it put me exactly where I needed to be…"

The candles crackled within their wax and almost drowned out his low voice. "Fate was just that my most heinous crime would lead to my undoing."

"You're happy to have been beaten?" Incredulity raised her voice.

Sephiroth shook his head, eyes closed so hard they could bleed. "I never wanted any of it…madness, godhood, glory. That was ever and always _its_ plan, but now that horror has left my soul, leaving this sad, pale husk behind."

She stopped her fingers from reaching out by clenching them hard together. "How did you end up here? Why were you caged and chained?"

He stood so quickly Aeris scrambled back, but Sephiroth merely whirled about his hair sweeping like a banner to lean against the frame of her door. He looked up at stars that neither could see and his low voice caused heart's quaver.

"My nightmares are full of blood and screams. My memory full of death. The scrape of steel on naked bone…the stench of burning flesh. They all come back to haunt me now that I'm alive again. The memories…they never leave. All the ones I killed. All the ones I wronged. In waking it's unbearable. In dreams it's a thousand times worse."

"Do…do I haunt you, too?"

He turned his head and if Aeris did not see it, she could not have burned her tongue with the words. But if sorrow existed it lived in his eyes as he forced himself to face her.

"Oh, little flower…you haunt me worst of all." He turned back to the sky that lay unseen beyond the layers of steel. "When I died…when Strife killed me, it was…the sweetest of reliefs. I was free of the hatred...the burning desire to lay waste and to kill. Imagine being a spectator at your own hellish descent, but having no power to change your course. I welcomed the still of oblivion. In none of my delusions did I expect this world to take me in. I was cursed. I was tainted by that which had dripped down from the cold stars so long ago. Death is the best thing that ever happened to me, child, but I didn't deserve that gift. I became aware in the freezing cold and was in pain so I knew that I lived. The tendrils of madness were gone from my mind so that memory could invade, but I could neither move nor see and could only lie there and suffer.

"Then one day I realized my blindness was due to my eyes being closed. The struggle to open them left me ashamed, I who had once been so strong, but I quickly forgot any pride I had had in the fight to lift my lashes. The first sight I saw was whirling white and my breath tainting the pristine air. In the deep Northern Crater all the way down my face streamed with icy tears. I hoped I would be buried by it, but it melted in touching the pale. Once open my eyes would no more close, I had spent all my strength in that action. So I was forced to bear the pinpricks of ice as they fell into unblinking green.

"Time passed slow, yet I was still thankful the day I found I could crawl. I spent meager strength trying to pull myself forward until exhaustion forced me to the ground. Never had I known what weakness was and but for memory this was the worst, but it gave me something to work towards, the hope that one day I could stand. Towards the far wall of the cavern I dragged myself so that I could climb to my feet. The first time I did my hair shrouded my face and the blood rushing made me collapse. In nightmares that howled I was placed on a rack and pulled til my bones cracked upon. When I awoke I felt every fissure and would have vomited had anything been within.

"I had nothing to do but try again as the snow stood silent witness. I took one step and fell to my knees, my hair splayed on the craggy ground. My palms were scraped but did not bleed. It would take more than rocks for that. I struggled to my feet once more and leaned against the cavern wall. It was large and would've been pitch black if not for the light of my eyes. Passages led winding up and down to where I didn't then know. I could sense no life within my space, but faint stirrings were in the tunnels.

"I won't bore you, child, with my slow ascent back to full strength. My tainted cells kept me alive, and I grew used to hunger as I never did nightmares for no mercy would let me die. The passage that smelled of outside cold was where I first sought my escape, but it wound deeper down to the bowels of the world, and I soon abandoned that plan. Another reeked of rotting flesh and was blocked by a great dead beast. The rats had gnawed their own passage through, but there was no room for me. For how long I don't know I wandered those caves and found even beauty amongst the gloom. A great vaulted cavern that could've served as a hall burned luminescent green. It reflected my eyes but was far purer than unending Mako corruption. What creatures there were avoided me so they were wiser than they knew.

"Sunlight would've burned the eyes of one who needed to blink, when I finally stepped from the shadows. Drifting snow froze like earthbound stars as though binding the air to its cold. I only knew this intrinsically for it never reached my heat. I could only think of one place to go…the city known as the scar on the world, the place I'd been created. Something was calling, calling me there, and I was initially repelled. But this yearning seemed more like a suggestion rather than a pathway to madness and death. The world would not want its greatest enemy dwelling in its midst, and the one thing about Midgar, say what you wish, it's easy to disappear. So south I went through lands unspoiled by my selfish desire. The monsters out here were bolder, but my general instincts reacted and I called the Masamune to hand. The blood bond with it was still active, and I still remembered the dance.

"When the sprawl of the city crunched beneath my boots I wondered how much time had passed. The smell from even above was desolate and the slums fully reeked of despair. That was where I went for I wanted to vanish, and I knew the tower still stood. I saw the squalor that in my life before dwelled beneath my arrogant feet, but shame was already deep within me and I couldn't summon any more. I made sure no one saw me in the dark sectors below. The pass code resurfaced from my memory and it was unchanged in what must've been years. I expected guards. I expected alarms, but I found nothing within. The whole of the structure was empty and had been for many years. What ran must have done so by design for not a living soul stirred within. There was…something though. A hint. A whisper, but it quickly faded, and my senses could detect no more. I went far below where the dead dare not dream and gave my nightmares their reign at last. When I awoke I was caged and chained in the place where you found me last night."

Aeris bit her lip to stop its trembling and hid her eyes behind a fall of hair.

"How did you get there?"

"I don't know. I awoke and there I was. Bound to the floor, covered in chains, surrounded by Midgar's hatred."

"How long were you there?" she whispered and he shook his head at the grief in her voice.

"I don't know, little flower. A week perhaps some time more."

"You wandered those caverns for nearly a century…" the little Cetra whispered.

"Yes. I supposed I did." He cocked his head to the side, curious by her concern. "Why do you ask, child?"

Aeris covered her face, and he stepped out of the doorway so he could stand up straight. As if sensing this, she lowered her hands, but kept her trembling eyes veiled.

"Why didn't you try to escape before?"

"Why would I do so, little flower?" His voice was soft and seemed even lower as the candles slightly dimmed.

"Because they were torturing you!" The cry broke the dam though she tried to contain it within her small shaking hand. Sephiroth slid forward his eyes wide to the white sparkling around emerald deep. The chains on his wrists clanged against the shackles and that made her weeping worse.

Toe to heel he approached the maid like the cat his eyes proclaimed. Her other hand came up to assist in containing, but the rush was too great to hold. Tentatively, using thumb and forefinger Sephiroth lifted her hand away. Aeris gasped and wiped her face with the other as he peered down with what could've been rue.

"Are you…are you weeping for me, child?" he whispered. Her soft palm was damp with the salt of her tears, and it was the most delicate thing he'd ever held.

"How can't I?" The free hand briefly shielded her eyes before she looked up with cheeks flushed.

"Don't I deserve to be bound in chains? Don't I deserve to be beaten?"

"No!" she cried descending back to sobs. "No one deserves that. Especially not now…not now that I know…" She squeezed his hand as he frowned to her sorrow.

"Why does my discomfort bother you so? You of all people should revel to see me in torment."

"You don't deserve to be hurt!"

With grace he descended back to his knees still holding her hand in his. Moonlit hair slid along his black coat, limning in silver light. Aeris sniffed and a tear released her lashes to shiver down a sodden cheek. In curiosity abound Sephiroth caught it before rolling that hand to a fist.

"You truly believe that I, your murderer, don't deserve to be hurt. That I need not pay for what I did…" It wasn't a question but rather a wonder as her soft tear warmed his hand.

"You've paid for it a thousand times more, and it was never you."

He lowered his head and squeezed his fist tight, wishing the tear could wash his sins, but he could not allow sentiment to block the bitter truth.

"Part of it was. Part of me wanted that poisoned promise that bled through my mind like foul fire. In all my strength there was still that weakness, the belief I was better than all. Maybe it was a flaw in my creation or maybe I created it on my own."

"You've had ample chance to hurt me," she insisted, "yet you've done nothing but help. You saved me from those men last night. You carried me safely home."

"I could save you a thousand times. It won't negate what I did. It makes me no less a monster."

"You're _not_ a monster. What was done to you was terrible…" She placed her other hand on his, but his eyes reflected only her sadness.

"It is far less terrible than what was done to you."

"Sephiroth, you-"

His head lifted and Aeris was caught in a wash of emerald flame. It stiffened her tongue and what he said next was in a voice so joyless it could've been a thousand years dead.

"When I pierced you your dying heart struggled to beat around the blade of my sword. It convulsed in hopeless agony as your hot blood washed my face. I felt you die and I enjoyed it. That is what makes me a monster."

The tiniest sound quavered in the back of her throat as her murderer's words froze the air. Aeris jerked away and he let her go to stumble past him and out the bedroom. He heard the bathroom door slam and incoherent sobbing shut his eyes to her fear. Lowering his head he squeezed both fists and gave her tears their solitude. Relegating the sound to his under-hearing where the nails in the foundation still dwelled.

The once general rose and walked over to her candles, sad stumps of wax almost burned out. With a motion swift he re-silenced them and opened the curtains to let in wane light. The street lamps were yellow as a sickly sun and his own eyes were brighter by far. A blob of wax had formed on faded surface so Sephiroth scraped it away. The image of Midgar sprawled beneath, and his head tilted in curiosity. Moving the piled knick knacks aside revealed a full map of the Planet with ends frayed from age and use. Sephiroth scrutinized the small words and etchings there as he slid silver away from his face.

Midgar was blighted, an empty hole, to call it black would insult that hue. But she'd drawn numerous paths from its heart in lighter, looping lines. Slightly east to Kalm were the words "_It's not far and I could sit at the inn and have coffee." _A steaming cup had been rendered in whimsical hand complete with steam rising above. The once general's face was expressionless, but his finger followed the wavy lines. Further south on the same continent she'd traced a circle around Mideel. "_The Lifestream flows close to the surface here, but the ebb swallowed the town long ago. Even if the people have rebuilt it's oh so far away…" _Farther north she'd marked the one town that dwelled in winter's heart. "_It would be so cold, but I'd see snow and frozen bones would be worth such a sight." _Then across the world she'd sketched a sun on the place known as Costa del Sol. _"I think I'd burn like a leaf in a blaze, but it'd be worth it to see the sea. I'd even bless the sun in all its fury. It's been so long since I've felt its light…"_

Nearly every place on the map had been touched by her little hand. All save for Midgar which stayed ever dark, a harsh scar upon the world. She'd drawn pathways from the city to the lands of her desire. Just tracing them Sephiroth caught both her hope and sorrow that furrowed his brows wondering why. He shook the hair in front of his face when Nibelheim crossed his view, but he was saved from that as summer scent lifted his head to the maid's return.

"No one has ever wept for, child," he whispered. "No soul has ever shed tears on my behalf." He pushed his hair back as he looked over to her standing with one hand on her bed. "I can never be as sorry as you deserve, but I apologize for my last words. You have no need to know how a heart of darkness seethes."

"You were just telling me the truth." She closed her hand by her heart. "There's no need to apologize."

Sephiroth nodded and faced her, and though Aeris stiffened slightly, she didn't run away. "I never asked about you…" His voice became lower to this new shame, and the flower girl's lips parted with curiosity. "That was very selfish and ungrateful of me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how did you come to be here? In this rank place beneath the plate."

"I…" She turned and leaned against the bed, and he ever slowly drew near. Aeris watched him while the emerald light dimmed to show he'd halved his lids. She sighed and rubbed a hand cross her lips as if prepping them for words never spoken.

"I awoke in my church amongst my flowers. They were still growing even after a hundred years. I don't know how that's possible…maybe they just remembered my touch or maybe they were called by my memory."

He had stopped beside the window to clasp his hands behind his back as the street lamps streamed past his darkness. It ignited silver in its passing, and the winter hair multiplied light. Aeris forced herself not to stare for some moments robbed of coherent thought.

"I…was terrified at first because I didn't understand and I also didn't have my staff. I had my old clothes though…" Aeris trailed off so soft had he not his greater senses she would've faded to silence. "They…were covered in blood, but I no longer had a wound."

"Did you keep them, child?" His low voice shivered her skin, and his head was bowed as he peered up.

"Yes…"

"Why?" he asked as she walked toward her closet and found the pink bundle with no need for sight.

"Memories are all I have." She unfolded the dress that wore her blood as she had once worn it. "Even the bad ones are sacred…"

Sephiroth gave the sight his full piercing gaze, and in green light the old blood looked black. Behind his back his clasped hands tightened enough to crush a man's bones. His face showed no sign of what lay beneath, but it was pouring off of his skin.

"I knew the Planet had revived me, but for what purpose I couldn't know." The flower girl put the memory away, though he lowered his head not forgetting. "I had been within it for a hundred years and couldn't fathom why I was back. I can…talk to it, you know, but it's not really talking it. It's more like having a whisper in your ear all the time."

"Change whisper to roar and I understand, child. I understand all too well…" Emerald lit the hair in front of his face before he pushed it away.

"But the Planet is benevolent. Demanding in its way, but never like what you endured. I was back in the city that had captured my youth, but I had no idea why I was here. My friends were all dead and I was trapped in the squalors, my only sanctuary my lonely church. Unlike you I could stand immediately, thankfully I'd been fully revived, but I knew I couldn't stay there. My church was and always has been safe, but I needed somewhere to live. The only place I could think was my mother's house."

"I thought the last full Cetra died long ago." The words came before he could stop them, and Aeris startled, a stricken look paining her face.

"Y-Yes…she did when I was young. I was speaking of the woman who adopted me."

"I'm so sorry, child." Her quaking was quelled by his utter sincerity. "It was beaten into me to be straightforward." He looked down at the floor and deep into memory, the weight of it crossing his exquisite features.

"I don't know how I made it through the slums with my life or virtue intact. It was so much worse than I remembered it. I don't want to remember at all…what I saw that first night or what I've seen ever since."

"Then don't, child," he said softly. "Your memory is burdened enough."

Aeris shook her head. "But I must. All those victims don't deserve to be forgotten. I still don't understand how I made it through. The Planet must've protected me." She sighed and found a strand of her bangs, running small fingers through. "I was so grateful to find my mother's house not only standing, but not ransacked by thieves. Most of the other houses had been abandoned and quite a few more have been boarded up. Sometimes, though I'm not certain, I can hear…things coming from within." She shuddered and he kept his silence again for the scratching within the walls. "When I first came back I checked the whole house to make sure that it was empty. Marauders had been in here, but they hadn't found the gil my mother had hidden in the basement."

"And how did you find it?"

"The Planet led me there…it was also the safest place in the house. I found that out my very first night." The flower girl shivered again, and Sephiroth gripped the shackle on one wrist. "Thieving gangs run rampant when the lights bleed to red, and they'll 'steal' far more than possessions. I was sleeping up here so grateful to have a bed beneath me, when the voice of the world shrilled me wake. I had enough time to hide under the bed as I listened to them rummage through my room." Sad laughter lifted emerald green. "At least they weren't like you to hear my very heartbeat and know where to find me then. I learned my lesson quickly and moved my bed things beneath the ground floor. It was colder and danker, but when they came none ever thought to look in the basement though I still trembled at the footsteps above. Not that it happened all that often, but just those few times were enough.

"I knew I had to do something to occupy my time and my church still bore my flowers. They were winter white though when once they'd been yellow, but the fragrance still cheered my heart. My dear friend…that's what I call the Planet." She blushed a bit, but he had no judgments to give. "Well, it was being stubborn with letting me know my purpose. I was alive, but I had no idea why. Before…I knew exactly what I had to do."

"Stop me," he said flatly. "You had your materia and I had mine. Thank the gods yours proved the stronger." He stood a bit straighter, giving the flower girl a direct look under which she tried not to wither. "Whatever happened to yours, child?"

"I lost it on the day I died…" she barely breathed unsure if it was these words or him that stole her voice.

"A great many things were lost that day including your white stone."

"It wasn't white…not really." Aeris folded her hands in memory. "Rather a pale, translucent green, warm to the touch with a glow that could've been just dreamed. It doesn't matter anyway. It fulfilled its purpose…as did I."

"But…it didn't work, little one. Despite your plea I slew you on the altar." His head was bowed so low again and his lips could've shaped regret."

"It…did." The small voice was reassuring and Sephiroth looked up again. "Just not in the way I expected. If my prayer had come to pass then, the story would've been different."

"How so?"

_It would've saved us all. _Aloud she replied, "It would've destroyed the abomination or stopped it for a long time, but only life can pay for death and only blood for power."

"You gave yourself to my sword and madness."

"It's what I was born to do…but now I don't know what my purpose is besides selling flowers in the slums. It all comes full circle…"

"Is that what you do now, child?" he asked. "Sell your flowers in the gloom?"

Aeris nodded unsure why she feared the judgment of emerald light. "Yes…it seems to bring hope to the people down here."  
"Then it's better than anything I've ever done."

She rubbed her arm unsure what to say to her murderer's hollow grief. "It's just part of my daily routine. I go to my church and gather my lilies after I pray to the Planet. Every day I hope that it'll reveal my purpose, but it only sings softly in my head. Then I go to the center and sell my white blooms for just one gil a piece. Some I give away if I find those sore needing or if there are children who show some interest. The money I make I give to the poor and destitute in the gloomier sectors. Then at the end of some days when the lights slip to yellow I go to the sector that used to be. There I lay flowers in memory of my friends and all of those who died beneath."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "It's dangerous over there, isn't it, little one?"

"Yes," Aeris admitted, "but I'm the only one left alive. I'm the only one left to remember. That's what I was doing when those men found me. So stupid…they could've-"

"There's nothing foolish in remembering," he told her, "and you did nothing to warrant their 'grace.'"

"You're right…" She chewed her lip over restless hands. "But you were wrong about something else. You aren't a monster."

"I was born of one, child," he said so sadly, shutting his eyes hard for the shame. "I am get of the ancient evil that fell from the stars long ago."

"No." Aeris shook her head stubbornly. "That's not what she was."

"Are you saying the thing you so desperately fought was not such an abomination?" One eyebrow was raised above deeper frown as the light became sharp in its gleaming.

The flower girl squirmed beneath such scrutiny, but held tight to her resolve. "I'm not saying that at all, but that was not your mother."

Sephiroth parted his lips, but even the shadow of words died on his tongue. His hands fell to his sides as the chains dully clanged.

"They…they told me that she'd died in birth and her name was…the abomination's. I believed them then. Why wouldn't I? I had no other truth…"

"They lied," was her gentle response. "Vincent told us the truth and they betrayed him, as well, so he had no reason to protect them."

"He would know, wouldn't he?" Sephiroth whispered. "He was older than us all." He took a step back where a graceless man would've stumbled and descended back into the chair. One hand to his temple, he looked at the little Cetra trying to quell her own sorrow at his face. "Did he…did he tell you her name?"

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes he did. Her name was Lucrecia Crescent."

"A-And how was she cursed to birth me?"

"She was a scientist taking part in some experiment…but Vincent wouldn't speak about the details. I think it was too painful to recall."

"And that experiment produced me…" He leaned back and looked up to the dark foundation, but no answers were hidden there. It had all happened so long ago, there were not even scraps of memory to cling. Hands clasping the chair, he concentrated on Aeris to keep his grip from crushing the arms. "I have to find her…I have to find where she's buried and beg her for forgiveness. I was her son and I never knew it. I never even knew her name…"

"You were lied to." Aeris felt herself pulled forward. "What could you have done?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "Do you know anything, child? Do you know where she might be?"

"No, I'm so sorry, Sephiroth-" But he silenced her before she could continue with a gesture of his hand.

"No apologies from you. I won't have them, not after what I did."

She put her hands to her hips, a bit exasperated, but found she could speak again. "What I was going to say was _I _don't know where she might be, but I know some people who might."

He looked up and she was only a few steps away.

"Who?" he asked.

"The Followers of Seph."

"The Followers of Seph," he repeated flatly with an expression to match. "Who or what are 'The Followers of Seph?'"

"Well…" Aeris put a hand over her mouth but Sephiroth still heard the suppressed giggle. "To put it quite plainly…they're fangirls. They're fangirls…of you."

"Fangirls." His voice was deadpan. "They used to call themselves the Silver Elite…it seems they have evolved."

"So you've heard of them?"

Sephiroth ran a hand through his hair so silver streamed down the side of his face. "One can't be the greatest of generals without having some hangers on." There was no pride or vanity in his voice. He was simply stating a fact.

"I-I don't know too much about them," Aeris stuttered, "just rumors no more no less. They have to keep themselves secreted away. People have had their tongues torn out for merely speaking your name."

That shocked him back to grief once more as the mask he was wearing cracked. "So how do you know about them, little one?"

"One hears things in the slums of Midgar, especially when one is small and not easily noticed." She half grinned. "They have a meeting place in Sector 2, but I've never been there. It's close to the edge of the city…" She lowered her head as her thin shoulders slumped taking all of her mirth with them.

"What is it, child?" He leaned forward slowly so as not to frighten her.

Aeris wrapped her arms around herself and her bangs hid the burn in green eyes. "I want to leave the slums so badly, but there's no way that I can."

"Why can't you leave?"

She shuddered and Sephiroth frowned. "You saw how bad it was last time. It's even worse out close to the edge. The roving gangs own the nights and days and only the strong survive. As much as I want to escape the slums, I won't risk the mercy of the Planet to try to get through that."

"I'll take you out of the city, child. If that's what you desire."

Aeris's head jerked up to the ring of dew in summer green. His words and his look were both so sincere, and through her head spun the loveliest music.

"You…you will?"

"Flowers weren't meant to bloom in the shadows." His voice was low to emerald light. "I'll take you out of the slums."

Blinding by tears, Aeris rushed forward, reaching for the hands of her murderer, and though surprised, he caught hers within.

"You'll really take me out of Midgar?"

"Of course I will." Her fingers were so tiny and noticeably cold within the stark heat of his. "You once protected the world from me. Let me protect you from the world."

"Oh thank you, thank you!" She all but leapt for joy looking up at his eyes and this time not flinching away.

"There's no need, little flower," he assured her. "I owe you your life. This little request is nothing."

"It's so much more than nothing to me…" His heart began to hurt for the expression on her face as Aeris mused aloud. She had not removed her hands from his, and Sephiroth sat almost frozen for if he moved she'd surely snatch them away.

"Where will I go once I get out though…outside must be even more dangerous than within. What will I do to protect myself? I don't even have my staff and the Planet's been so fickle. If I die again there's not even anyone left to remember or mourn me, and I still never even knew my purpose – oh…"

The "oh" was due to the fact that Sephiroth was now standing, towering over the small flower girl. She lifted her head to cascading silver hair framing angelic and beautiful face. He was so tall her neck began to ache just in those short moments looking up. Her right hand was still encased in his left, and his eyes smoldered like green coals.

"It's a terrible thing to be forgotten," he whispered.

"It's a far worse thing never to be remembered at all…" she barely answered with half-stolen voice.

"Wherever you wish to go, little flower, I will take you there. I won't leave you until I know you're someplace safe."

The tears came before Aeris could cage them and Sephiroth could find no words. Skin to skin she felt only sincerity and the sorrowful core of regret. She caught herself finally and tugged at her hand to his instant release.

"Do you…do you mind lighting a candle?" she asked stepping close to her map. "I know you can see, but it would be strange to view this using only the light in your eyes."

He flicked those eyes and one of the taller ones brightened and it was half in her to ask how, but Aeris swallowed the question to peer at her map running fingers over the time worn surface. She started to blush as she realized he'd seen this, her little etchings and silly words, but in the candle's crackle he peered down with no judgment on a passive face. He was standing beside her, but giving enough room so she wasn't burdened by his presence. Aeris flipped her braid away to one side, and this called Sephiroth's gaze only briefly to the curve of neck amongst wispy hair.

"I just want to go someplace quiet where I can see the sky and maybe hear the sea…"

"Costa del Sol then." He moved his finger there as she slid hers just shy of touching.

"Maybe…" She tapped the map, pursing her lips. "It's a resort town…or was a hundred years ago. Who knows if it's even still there…" That thought deadened her heart for a moment. What if all before had been turned to dust in her time in the Lifestream and here?

"If Midgar still stands I'm sure other towns do." His low voice was soft from above. She twisted her head to look up at him and his half-veiled eyes pulsed down. "There's also the chance that others have grown, and you'll find the quiet that you seek."

"Kalm is not too far from the sea." Her finger hovered around the small cup. "But it's awfully close to Midgar."

"You just want to be far away from here, don't you?"

"Yes…" She lowered her head. "I'm…ashamed, because I feel like the Planet put me here to do something, but what can I possibly do?" She raised her hands peering up at him, but Sephiroth had no answer.

"Here's this," he said after some moments. "I'll take you to the shores of the western continent and we'll find a place for you to be safe."

Aeris turned to him with such gratitude it couldn't be contained on her face. "I just have a small request."

"Anything, child." He tilted his head as she stepped forward and tapped a finger on one of his shackles.

"You wish me to remove them."

"Yes, and the one around your neck, too."

"Why does this concern you so much, little one?"

"You don't deserve to be in chains."

Sephiroth sighed unsure how such stubbornness could dwell in one so small.

"And something else." She closed the distance and laid a hand atop of his. He hid his shock by staying perfectly still. The flower girl gazed up out of innocent eyes the color of summers long dead. "We're all that's left of yesterday and my name is Aeris."

The light from his eyes burned hot on his lashes as they curled long on winter skin. He slowly turned his hand to encase tiny fingers, and the candle flame dimmed in its wax.

"Aeris…" It was a name meant for whispers as he slid his thumb over her hand, and for a brief second she swore he smiled.

_Disclaimer: The poem so read in this chapter is T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock and is by no means mine._

_Author's Note: Thank you again for reading! The next chapter entitled Blood Dance will be posted next Friday April 17._


	4. Blood Dance

_Author's Note - Music Suggestion: Years ago I had a creative writing teacher in undergrad and later grad school who consistently insisted that life does not come with a soundtrack. While I agree with her assessment, I respectfully disagree with this applying to stories. I have been often inspired to write by music or find that certain melodies remind me of scenes or vice versa. With this in mind I would highly recommend the song "God Help the Outcasts" from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame's Soundtrack during the church scene in the middle of the chapter below. I was hoping it would hyperlink to the title, but that appears to not have worked, nor does my posting the full link seem to be a solution. It's easily located on YouTube so if you'd like...  
_

_This was also posted about an hour before midnight. I've stayed up past that hour previous Fridays in order to post my chapters, because I have a LOT of updating to do on the date, the more I can do to stagger it the better. However, I'm super tired tonight so all of you night owls will get the chapter an hour earlier than normal. I hope you enjoy._

**Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,**

**I will fear no evil…"**

**-Psalm 23:4**

**Chapter 4**

**Blood Dance**

Sephiroth descended the stairs with chains jangling, leaving Aeris so that she could dress. The basement door was still shut to his glare as he heard the scratching ever below. Forcing away his gaze, he spied the leftover soup tightly covered in a bowl on the counter. He hoped that wouldn't be her morning meal. The maid deserved a far better breakfast. There was a worn step stool in front of the cabinets, which was unneeded for his search within.

Upstairs Aeris brushed her hair until it was almost dry. The mirror was murky from moisture's touch, but her pale image swam softly through. The flower maid could not dispel the absurdity that her murderer lurked downstairs, but she'd lived long enough in the belly of the wolf to know that safety was an illusion. Even here in her mother's old house, the best refuge had been below.

Her fingers had threaded chestnut hair into braid without notice, and she carefully brushed her high bangs. No longer was she that pink ingénue…but that ribbon still twisted her hair. Her skin was whiter than the walls of her bathroom, the price of living beneath the stones. The maid wondered if age would ever touch her face for she seemed no older than when she had died.

Blowing out the candle when she was dressed, Aeris descended the stairs. Last night meandered like a lost dream that had trickled over to morning. The sight before dissolved that fancy like a spider web in a storm. Gone were the shackles around his wrists though they were still circled by silver bracers. That made her suddenly sad that even without chains he was still forever bound. The leather gloves were back on his hands so arm to finger was endless black. The latches on his coat matched the ones on his boots the former fastened at his waist. Black leather flowed all the way to his ankles, and Aeris averted her eyes from the straps 'cross his chest. He'd not only see her blush, but smell its heat beneath her skin. A lock of hair had fallen across his face, and he shook it away with nary a hush. He was all black and silver with winter white skin, a study in monochrome save for those eyes.

Aeris could barely breathe as her foot slid against metal, the shackles that had ringed wrist and neck. Looking down the flower maid's fear revived for the bonds had been literally crushed. Steel sheared down along one end before the cuffs had been ripped apart. The neck clasp with its remnant chains was discolored and warped where he'd snapped it. _If he's strong enough to do that to steel, what could he do to me? _Sephiroth must've sensed this thought for his eyes narrowed as he frowned. This served only to boost her terror until the table caught her sight.

"You…you made me breakfast?" The words disintegrated all trace of fear as she choked them out. Aeris ran forward, but her foot caught the collar, and she stumbled with hands thrown forth. No sight could've captured his movement as he clutched the flower maid around her arms. The Cetra didn't know at what moment he'd knelt, but she was at level with his eyes.

"Am I less frightening now, little flower?" he murmured as she did blush this time.

"I think you're always going to be frightening," Aeris told him, biting her lower lip, "but I'm trying hard not to be scared."

Sephiroth lowered his lids. "That's acceptable, child, and I'll try to be worthy of your trust."

"Aeris," she gently reminded him.

"Aeris…" His voice made her name shiver soft against skin as he rose to his feet with grace. "And to answer your question, yes I did. It's the least I could do for you." He gave a quick glance to the repast. "Also, it's…refreshing to do something that doesn't involve blood or death."

It was only toast and eggs with jam set on the side along with a cup of hot tea, but Aeris wondered if he'd read her mind to know that's what she'd been craving. The thought chilled her heart since he _was _a manipulator, but the Planet's song eased her fears. The maid sat to eat, glancing up at him, but he stood near the counter with hands clasped behind.

"Do you-" He shook his head before she could finish, shivering silver along the black.

"I'm fine, little one. Enjoy your meal. We'll go to Sector 2 and then out of this cesspit to wherever your heart desires."

Aeris felt the moisture threaten to ruin her eyes so she bit into her toast. Sephiroth observed she wore another brown dress that would've been drab on any other. Even her frumpy, loose bed gown couldn't disguise this delicate rose, and he truly wondered what power she had to survive in the slums unmolested. _She's the true daughter of the Planet, _he thought, _while I tried masquerading as a god… _He was used to shielding pain and squeezed his hands tight hidden behind his back. She sipped her tea merrily swinging her feet, while he concealed awe of such innocence.

"You used to always braid your hair, didn't you, little one?"

Aeris gulped the brew at the sound of his voice. His presence was like a ghost. "Y-Yes, I did. It was easier for travel, but in the slums I wore it loose. A braid is far easier to grab, you know? I suppose I could've cut it," she mused with a frown, "but I've always liked my hair long."

Sephiroth folded his arms, looking down to the past and far into oldest memories. "As do I…mine was cut for some insolence once, hacked raggedly and uneven. I forget what I did, but I was twelve then and still vain so I mourned those silver strands. I remember gathering them up and trying to replace them…childish dreams are such a folly. Afterwards I think I was locked in the darkness for days or even weeks. It's hard now to remember. The only light I had issued from my own eyes and I was in terror of the shadows they caused."

She lifted a hand to her mouth and tried to swallow unstoppable tears. Sephiroth tilted his head unable to fathom how she could hold pity for him.

"That's how the greatest generals are made," he said, "or so I was told time and again."

"And they beat you, didn't they?"

"Each and every day." The former general only looked sad for her sake as he stared into distant past. "Until I grew strong enough to fight back, then the beatings only grew worse."

She tried to clean her face without his notice, but eyes that don't blink miss little.

"Aeris…my past life need not trouble your ears. Are you finished with your repast?"

She drank the last of the tea and stood up, approaching him with tentative steps. "You didn't deserve it." Her lips were pursed as she looked up. "None of it at all."

"After what I did to you and this world, I deserved every brutal blow."

Aeris shook her head, and the almost smile touched his lips.

"You should do that more often," she told him with hers so genuine and full. Sephiroth raised a brow.

"Do what?"

"Smile. It makes you far less frightening."

Aeris insisted on cleaning up, refusing his help for it was only fair. She wanted to run her fingers on every glass and absorb each chipped plate's memory. She was leaving her mother's house again, but the memories would cling. The cracked wooden floor, the buckling table, the living room with its coating of must. Midgar was dark and lifeless, but she'd found hope in here. If she could figure out a way to let the light in, she'd let it shine eternal on this place.

Her grey cloak was torn, so she put on a green coat that dared not rival her summer eyes. It made more sense anyway. She was going out into the world, no longer rotting in the slums, and she should wear something nicer. A jolt of memory stirred her and Aeris opened the basement door. Descending the creaky steps, she retrieved the bag of gil Elmyra had left long ago. Aeris was glad that sometime in the years, they'd started using paper, otherwise she wouldn't have made it up the steps. Her once murderer had his hands braced behind him on the counter taut as the skin of a drum, but at her reappearance he stood up straight.

"I supposed I should find a bank at some point," he thought aloud as she counted out bills.

Aeris looked up trying to hold the number, but curiosity stole it from her head. "Wouldn't your account have been closed when you…died?" There was no other way to say it.

"Yes, little one, that's true. It would have, but I had other accounts under different names. I knew better than to trust my employers." It wasn't bitter in the least. It was only simple truth. "I had every intention before the…incident to retire then disappear."

"The future was stolen from both of us, wasn't it?" the flower maid said with saddest smile. Sephiroth didn't answer as his hair fell in front of his face. No light sheered through to prove his eyes were closed. Aeris wished she could erase the past from his memory, and the thought was so strange to have for her murderer that the maid had to leave the room. She only went to retrieve a worn satchel from the closet, but the hiatus served its purpose well. After the money and a few other essentials had been stowed away, Aeris returned to him with her hands clasped before.

"I need the bowl from the counter behind you," she said and he elegantly stepped aside. Curiosity tinged the tip of his tongue, but he quelled it as she grabbed the container. Glancing around the old kitchen just once the more, the flower maid sighed, "I'm ready."

He went before her to wait down the stairs as Aeris locked the door. The bowl was large within her small hands, but she juggled it well between. Sephiroth gave her room as she passed by, her gaze frozen up as she did. She had yet to turn her back to him, and he couldn't blame her for that.

The reason for the bowl became apparent when they entered the house's front yard. Aeris put it down and removed the lid, giving a click of her tongue to call. Sleek furry bodies slid through the dirt each with eyes that mirrored his own.

"They're always hungry." She looked aside, and Sephiroth wondered if she noticed that, too. "But I've never seen them come this quick." Five or six had gathered around the bowl lapping the remains of the soup, while the others paced with waving tales as they waited for their turn.

"Do you do this every day?" His hands were behind his back again as if in cold calculation of this "feast."

"Yes…" She wanted to see if the white furred one was as soft as it looked.

"Then I'm sure they're grateful for your kindness and know you won't bring them any harm."

The flower girl bowed her head in a moment of guilt. They'd have to fend for themselves from now on. "But it usually takes at least five minutes for even one to come out. The only thing different is you…"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at that as one waiting cat bounded over. It was clearly a youngling, mewling and rolling against his leather boot. The flower girl hid a gasp behind her palm, but it quickly turned to a giggle. He looked at her with brow still raised and a frown that tried to hid his confusion, but Aeris stopped laughing when others joined in.

The little brown tabby she almost expected. He seemed friendly and purred all the time. The kittens and yearlings were not too far-fetched being too green to know any better, but the grumpy ginger tom couldn't have been more of a shock. He'd hiss at scraps of street debris and would attack if approached from behind.

Ever so slowly Aeris approached to scratch a calico behind the ears. Her hand remained intact though the Mako gleam bored down on her from above.

"I can't believe this…" she whispered, struck by the strangeness of her petting stray cats at her murderer's feet.

"I do have their eyes," he said without mirth. "Why does this one not have any?"

"Oh…" She looked the far way up. His face was that expressionless mask that showed naught but flawless beauty, and though his hands rested behind his back, it would take nothing to strike her down. "People aren't…kind to cats in Midgar. Their eyes…" The brown tabby had pushed into the other's place, and she concentrated on the base of his ears. "Well, their eyes, they look like yours." It was said almost beneath her breath, but Aeris knew he'd hear. She peered up again and the emerald in question had diminished to half-veiled light.

"It's a sin that anything else should suffer for the horror that I am."

"They're not your fault, Sephiroth. You didn't ask to have slivered eyes, but…oh!" She stood up so quickly it made her sway, and he immediately held out his arm. The thought of how ridiculous that was came after, but was shattered the instant she took it. Unfortunately, her head continued its spinning for something Aeris had just recalled.

"Everyone knows what you look like!" Her little hand squeezed the solid muscle beneath leather, lip trembling as she looked up. "I'm so stupid," she sobbed and he blinked bewildered. "They'll know by now that you've escaped and they'll be after you." Her dream of leaving crumbled to ash, falling like the plate from above. A gloved finger gently lifted her chin and there was concern leaking through the stark mask.

"Little flower, please don't weep. I can still take you out of the city."

"How?" Her voice cracked around that one small word. "They'll know you immediately and come for you, and-"

"They'll be more blood I'll have to shed?" He finished gently, touching his thumb to her lips.

Aeris shuddered for she hadn't thought that, but she suddenly wished he wasn't wearing gloves.

"If it wasn't for my promises, I'd let them take me again. It's more than I deserve to be beaten and chained, but I vowed to see you someplace safe." She wanted to argue, but he hushed her again as the light pulsed soft from his eyes. "You needn't worry about such though. People only see me if I wish…"

"What do you mean?" Her eyes were huge as she looked up like his every word were gospel. Pain shot through Sephiroth's heart at that thought. He suddenly became aware of her hand on his arm and his fingers beneath her chin.

Letting her go, he backed away and then took a step to the side. Aeris gasped as her eyes turned to liars. It was as though he'd stepped behind a curtain of air that covered complete his large form.

"Sephiroth?" She stumbled forward and a few of the startled cats hissed. "Sephiroth!"

"I'm right here, Aeris." The voice came from behind and she whirled with a both hands to her chest. She would've fainted in shock if he hadn't caught her swiftly in his arms.

"I'm so sorry, little one," he whispered and beneath his skin the sound of his heart calmed her tremor. She tilted her chin to see contrition and grief splayed harsh on angelic face. Her mind swam as though drunk. _Dear gods, _she thought,_ his beauty is blinding. It's all that I can see. _And the Planet echoed this mantra as moonlight and ashes tumbled over the flower girl's face.

"How did…how did you do that?" she stammered.

"I sidestepped," he answered softly as his arms slid slow around. _Let…her…go. What the hell are you doing? Do you think she wants her murderer's touch?_

"Sidestepped...?" Aeris pulled herself closer with her hands curled against his chest. She had never felt such living heat radiating from off pale skin, but even more than that she'd never felt so safe, and that made no sense at all. _He's put a spell on me. He's bewitched the Planet. Why am I so calm?_

Sephiroth was not made to tremble, but he could barely hide his disbelief. The little Cetra was the epitome of peace with her face turned aside with a smile. Never had he seen anything more beautiful, and she was held tight in his arms.

"Aeris…" he whispered for fear his voice would break. "I'm going to let you go."

"Oh…" Her eyes opened but before she could blink, Sephiroth stepped away.

Most of the cats had disappeared, but a few were sleeping off their meal. Aeris focused on that tangible thought as his embrace echoed through her skin.

"You…" Aeris swallowed. "You vanished." She turned back to his impassive face as the Planet hummed along quite smug.

"I sidestepped," he said again.

"And what does 'sidestepped' mean?"

"It means I stepped between the cracks of the world."

"Like where you put the sword."

"Yes…" He lowered his head. Of course she'd remember that. "I'm placing myself in between."

"What's it like?" Curiosity filled her as she stepped closer.

He ran gloved fingers through his hair and regarded her uplifted face. That moment had hollowed a space in his memory facing his horror filled past.

"The world's a little greyer though you can't really tell down here, but you…" She swore his lips quirked up. "You look the same. Bright amongst the shadows, a little flower blooming in the slums…"

His soft words flooded her cheeks and Sephiroth tilted his head at her blush. "But sidestepping won't protect you from danger. If anyone threatened you, I'd have to appear and…alleviate the problem. It would be better for you to be seen with a protector than wandering about alone." Aeris bit her lip, trying not to remember how he'd "alleviated the problem" before. Sephiroth clasped his hands behind his back and neon eyes lit his whole face.

"Wh-What are you doing? Your eyes…they're…different somehow…" She trailed off as if silenced by the light.

"You still know me, little one?" he asked, shutting them for a few brief moments. When he opened them again, the incandescence had returned to its original emerald gleam.

"Yes, of course, why wouldn't I?" Aeris was more confused than frightened. He was even more of an enigma as a friend than he'd ever been as an enemy. _He's a friend now? _Her teeth found her lower lip even as she worried she'd chew it raw.

"I can make it seem like I'm not me," he explained. "I still have the silver hair, green eyes, and same face but people don't equate that to who I am. They see me, but they don't see _me_, if that makes any sense."

"Oh okay." She nodded. "So it's as though while you look like you, you're not the Great General Sephiroth." She couldn't help the giggle behind a cupped hand until she saw what that title did.

"Yes…" He let his gaze sear through the sector. "So I can take you through the city. I can protect you and no one will know it's really me."

"Maybe…" Aeris slid closer so she had to look up again. "Maybe one day they can."

"I doubt it, little flower. They're always going to hate me as they so rightly should."

"You don't know that," she insisted as she took his left hand, and as much as he tried to hide his surprise, Aeris saw it and replied with a smile. "I don't hate you…and I'm becoming less afraid every moment." She squeezed his fingers, but he stilled his own upon her delicate bones. "But I don't understand why I could still see you, you know, as you truly are."

He shrugged. "You're the daughter of the Planet. It must not work on you."

"Maybe, oh and Sephiroth, I'm…" She paused before she said "sorry" beneath his lifted brows. "I mean I meant to mention this before. I'd like to go to my church. I know you want to ask the Followers about your mother, but-"

"Little one…" He laid a hand to her cheek before he could tell himself not to. Aeris continued smiling, shutting her eyes to the leather touch. "Before these moments, I thought my mother was a monster. What is one more errand or one more hour to me? I owe you more than two lifetimes can bear. I'll take you to your church."

The desiccated husks in the train yard held searching eyes and hungry fingers. Sephiroth stayed beside her, but she still felt the tingle in her bones. Never had the flower maid really considered how many lawless men did lurk. Sephiroth had only to glare their direction to send them scurrying away like rats. Even if they couldn't see his true face, the intimidation bled through the seams.

Beside his charge on the train tracks, his boots made nary a sound, while hers crunched atop sere, brittle wood that whined even beneath her slight weight. A compartment listed in shiftless slouch, held up by a less fortunate car. It was far too high for Aeris to climb, but she didn't have time to ponder. Sephiroth's arm encircled her waist as he ascended it with ease. She didn't know if he jumped or flew, but they were within the dank dim. Hissed curses and scratching assailed her ears as the inhabitants shuffled back. Their eyes were dull within their wane lamps as they skittered over her in the gloom. Angry defeat echoed there, but Aeris was gone before it fully registered. Her now protector clutched her again and left the outlaws to their sick dreams. The flower girl could've sworn they floated to the ground so gently did he descend.

The corridor of the destitute was next, but the man who'd warned could only mumble. She dropped a few gil coins as usual, and the scramble for them was worse than the cats.

"You do this every day, too, don't you, little one," Sephiroth asked as faces peered from the hovels.

"I must," was her reply. She looked up at him in strange contemplation as they passed through the filth and debris. How something so shining could end up down here seemed the basest sort of tragedy, but his return gaze told the flower girl that he thought the very same.

Aeris sighed smiling at the sight of her church, and her shoulders released their tension. She stepped forward and Sephiroth was surprised for that placed her vulnerable back before. Hands behind his own, he observed her laying a reverent palm on the old doors. The creak of it opening stirred age old dust, and Aeris was half through before turning.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

"I…can't."

"Why not?" The door still ajar spilled light across her face.

"Aeris…" He wasn't sure how to explain. "This is…a church. _Your _church. I can't enter such sanctity. How could you have your murderer within?"

The flower girl put her hands to her hips and gave him a scathing glare.

"This is no more _my _church than it is my air. Anyone is welcome to enter." Her voice softened. "Especially someone like you…"

"Someone like me?"

"Someone so in need of forgiveness."

"A forgiveness I'll never deserve." He bowed his head to the shadows below where the past forever lurked.

"You're not my murderer anymore," she insisted.

"The past can't change, child." And his despair forced her to sigh.

"I know that it can't, but…you do look like an angel and that should be reason enough!" She smiled up at him, hoping her humor would draw out a little mirth.

Those great emerald eyes shut so tight, she feared they'd never open again. "An angel…" he murmured as if the word were a curse. "The truth from innocent lips. I was designed to look like one, little flower. Merely a programming of genetic code."

"It's more than that," she insisted. She would've taken his hand, but he'd hidden them behind. "And I'm not talking about what you turned into…" She shuddered. "I'm not talking about that at all."

"I didn't turn into anything, Aeris. It's what I've always been."

"You're not that now, and I'm the daughter of the Planet. I can see the real you."

"Not all…"

"Well," she murmured, standing so close she could smell his frost white skin. "You certainly do look like one, regardless of how or why."

Sephiroth raised his head and the regret swam through the green. "And you look like a weak child unable to stop a monster on his quest to destroy the world. Let go of this deception. We both know each other's truth."

Summer green vied with emerald, and Sephiroth sighed in defeat. "If you're commanding that I enter-"

"No. Never a command. I'm asking you to." She held out her hand and he took it slowly, still surprised for the little maid's smile. "I want you to know you have the right to seek peace and sanctuary." Silence seemed better than argument as he let her lead him inside where light washed over his face.

The flowers bloomed in their myriads along the wooden paths, and Aeris released him to wander ahead, swimming in the sea of this scent. The entire Planet hummed beneath this place so that even the fallen could feel.

"This is…" he whispered as tranquility stroked his skin.

"I know…" Her little voice came from close and below and when he looked down she was bearing a flower. A lily white as ice held high in her hand, the same hue as moonlit silver. Aeris peered up from behind her bangs, as he grasped the delicate stem. Against his black glove this bloom pulsed like white fire, and the smell made him dampen his senses. Among it fresh as a new June day swam the scent of her summer skin. He held on to that as he twirled the white petals between his thumb and forefinger.

"Thank you," he told her, and she tilted her head peering up with a shy, little smile. Then whirling around, Aeris almost skipping away, and he was shocked again to see her back.

_Does she trust me that much now? _Sephiroth thought as the maid approached the altar. Cracked stained glass speckled through the light so a kaleidoscope made her a dais. He walked between broken and missing pews, but where they were gone more flowers did grow. Every space that could've been empty and grieved was filled with the light of life. _If I am an angel, I'm one of the fallen…I don't belong in this place. _He almost turned to escape the shame, but Aeris reached out her hands. Her coat was balled in a neat green pile on the ashy wood, looking almost like another rich bed from which new blooms could flourish.

When Sephiroth took the little fingers, Aeris grimaced to the leather beneath. "I wish you'd take your gloves off…oh." For no sooner said than it was done. She barely had time to register before her hands were enveloped again. But once in that heat, she smiled so bright that his lips parted in utter awe.

_Is this what I stole? Is this what I took? Is this what I destroyed? _The agony welled in his chest so great he was certain his heart would seep out, slow and bloody between his fingers as he failed to contain the pain. Aeris stepped closer and he blinked just once so black lashes beat winter skin.

"I trust you, Sephiroth," she whispered.

"Why?"

_Why indeed, my dearest friend? Is it because he looks so sad? _"I don't know…I just do. I know you're not going to hurt me."

"Again…" He had to turn his face away from the forgiveness written in hers.

"No," she assured him. "I don't think you ever did. Not the you that you are now at least." She grinned. "If that makes any sense. I'm telling you this because I'm going to pray and well-"

He fell to his knees before she could finish, making the flower girl gasp.

"You're telling me this so you can pray in you sanctuary without the fear of icy steel through your back."

Aeris chewed her lip and pushed the hair from her face, looking down at the top of his head. "I know you're not that monster anymore, but I know you still have those memories." _Gods know I have them, too…_

"Do you forgive me, little one?" He lifted his face, yet sorrowful emerald still would never bleed. The mask he wore was so gorgeous in its attempt to be utterly blank, and she laid a soft palm to his cheek.

"Oh Sephiroth…I forgave you a long time ago."

He covered the hand on his face for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief. It was there in her skin, the sweet pain of absolution. She would give, but he could never accept not even in a place full of gods' grace.

"Say your ave, little flower," the fallen finally said. "You have nothing to fear from me." He rose smoothly and whirled, his hair a soft banner that flew before painting his coat. He heard the flower maid slip to her knees and he occupied himself with the walls. The building was more than dilapidated, but still it stood by some power unknown. _A hundred years, _he mused, _and more it's endured and given this little rose haven. _If he'd wanted to he could've stole into her thoughts to see what Aeris prayed for, but that would be foul a invasion, and he wanted no part of that ever again.

_You answered my prayer, didn't you, dearest friend. I wished I wasn't alone. I never thought you'd send me _him, _but he's not evil anymore…maybe he never was. Please help him see that. I know he can't hear you, but you can still comfort the troubled. The way he looks at me…like he's bracing for hatred, expecting to be tortured and lashed. And if he were he'd just accept it as though he deserved the pain…_

The flowers near her knees bent their petals at the drops that slid down her folded hands.

"Aeris?"

Her breath burst forth like it had been held captive and she tried to quickly wipe her face. He was approaching her with a quizzical look and concern in his unblinking eyes. Standing, the flower maid rubbed reddened cheeks and cleared her throat as she coaxed a small smile.

"It's alright," she assured him. "I can get a little emotional when I commune with the Planet."

"So long as you weren't crying about me. I never want to be cause for your tears."

Her eyes softened at the corners to frame brighter smile, and he noticed how pink her lips were.

"We should go," Aeris said noticing the dim outside. "It's going to be evening soon…"

"Little one," he murmured stepping close, "I'll protect you regardless of the time."

She was cast in his large shadow as dust motes churned in the air. The shaft of light he was standing in seemed to lift from the crown of his head.

"Yes…" the flower girl answered. "I believe you will."

Outside the church the air was heavy, and Sephiroth glanced back at the old crooked doors. It was far more than just a building in the slums. Something lit it from within. Glancing at the small maid before, he could guess what that "something" was. _Her influence lingers long after her touch. _ And he looked down at his gloveless hands.

Aeris fiddled with the buttons of her coat as she walked away from the path she knew. Usually she'd go to the center of Midgar to peddle her flowers there. The church was bright behind her, but the way was dark before. A long stretch of forbidden ground was strewn with the rubble from above, and they were forced to climb over broken machines that had tumbled down to the slums to rot. Crumbled luxuries from those above once they no longer had use, and amongst them marauders scavenged and searched for sweeter things than mere metal scraps.

"Sephiroth?" Aeris whispered looking back through the entrance. Mold ringed it like scars to look like dark eyes sunken into deep pits. It had taken some climbing so their height difference was less, and she grasped almost desperately for his hand.

"I'm here, little flower." He took her small fingers, but frowned in the pall of her fear.

"Th-This is why I've been trapped in the slums. The things that happen here are just too terrible…"

"I'm certain they're not more 'terrible' than me." He almost smiled again. Aeris stared appalled for a moment, then gave a little laugh.

"No, I guess not." She squeezed his hand, and it was solid, warm, and strong.

There was a steep decline on the other side made of layered steel and stone. Decades worth of broken technology so casually discarded. Though rust muffled some of the glitter, there were still parts that tried to shine. Aeris slipped just once before she was scooped up, her cry lost in silver hair. Sephiroth slid down the defile with grace, holding the flower girl in one arm. The Cetra didn't know what to do with her hands, finding them first upon his pauldrons. The metal was as cold as he was warm and made her soft palms ache. His high leather collar edged his neck so she slid her arms around that. Though there was heat there, she felt him stiffen, and the pulse strong beneath caught speed.

"Sorry," she said softly as his hair brushed her lips. "I don't mean to be a hindrance."

"What did I tell you about apologizing, Aeris? And you're not a hindrance at all." He kept his eyes forward and his jaw set tight as he ran gracefully down the rough hill.

"Well, I can't possibly be a help…" She wanted to shut her eyes and fall asleep to this scent like nights full of moon and fresh snow. But that was absurd because she was in danger. _But am I really? I'm in his arms. Of course that could just be worse..._

"Little flower, you weigh nothing," he told her as he leapt over a rusted crane claw. "And I owe you your life. You couldn't be a hindrance to me if you tried. I was much more of one to you."

The ground beneath dirt was broken cobblestone as if this place had once been refined. "I'm going to put you down now, Aeris," Sephiroth said, and the little Cetra would never admit her regret when he set her on the ground.

Far, far up the unnatural hill lay the passageway back to her church. The flower girl could never make it back on her own, and she half-trembled to be stuck at his mercy. Before them structures made of what fell below had been shaped into corridors and walls. Buildings near high as the plate above rose, but they were windowless and dead as shadows. Once they must have been apartments for those wishing for a better life, but that hope had fled or been extinguished by the "mercy" that reigned down below. All the light here was yellow and dying like a squeezed out, broken sun. Shapes materialized before her eyes, banished as Aeris blinked, but she was unsure which truth to trust.

The cobbles screeched to a rough blade's scrape as a figure jumped atop a low heap. A long whistle sounded and the darkness erupted with those who sated their hunger on death. Chains rattled against ripped and faded clothes, bruising hands that caressed guns and edges. These were the ones whom poverty had trampled until desperation twisted them raw. The whistler on the mound held tight his crude axe, sharpened iron strapped to a pipe. His one glove was fingerless and fiddled with the haft, while he locked his other fist to a hip. He seemed neither old nor young, but the wrinkles on his brow overshadowed his eyes and his head held no trace of hair.

"There's a toll for passing through our domain." He stepped forward and his walk was all swagger. Aeris backed up and hit a solid wall, tilting her head to find Sephiroth above. He placed his gloved hands on her shoulders, but kept neon eyes sharp before.

"If it's reasonable I'm sure we can pay," he said, calm to the discord of snickers.

Their host jumped down and Aeris wanted to melt into the strong, sure form behind. The only move he made was to tighten his hands and the flower girl forced herself still.

"It's 'reasonable' if you want to keep your life. We're many to your one."

Sephiroth cast his gaze about, looking so bored he nearly yawned. "I've seen worse odds. How much do you require so we can be on our way?"

Full laughter burst forth to the rattle of steel and the flicking of tongues on gun barrels.

"We 'require' her." He grinned pointing his axe at Aeris. "Then _you_ can be on your way."

"Unacceptable," Sephiroth snapped standing up straighter as the Cetra trembled beneath his hands. "She's not mine to give. It's more like I'm hers, and you should beg her for grace."

The leader laughed quietly leaning a hip to his axe. "The strong rule the weak," he replied. "So you can give her to us and pass through unharmed or we'll just take her from your dead hands."

"Or I could just kill you all. Would that payment be sufficient?" The general asked this as casually as a man deciding between beer or ale.

Hefting his axe, the outlaw grimaced. "So be it," he said as he rushed.

The wall of the lawless closed in on them, but Sephiroth had infinite time. He put Aeris behind him meeting her eyes with smile soft as a candle long lit. Terror streamed past her lips with each breath as summer shivered in widened green. He shook his head to her fear in the brief motion telling the Cetra that there was no need. Then back he turned to the foe right before, the glamour dropping as the sword found his hand.

Blood rarely has sound unless one can hear the rush of fluid in living veins, but when steel invades beneath the heart, it's what fills the air in a scream. Bubbling from his lips the man drowned through his breath beneath a face devoid of pity.

"Se-" It was swallowed in blood but recognition still spread horror across his face. His legs had crumpled beneath him, but the end of his sternum rested on the sword.

"Now you know me." It was said lowly and Sephiroth flicked his gaze to the side. "But do you know her?"

The man's whimper burbled like a stopped pipe, and he couldn't tear his eyes from that visage. One fist was still clenched to his useless weapon and the other clutched the Masamune. Sephiroth's pupils shrank to thin slivers as he crushed those fingers for daring to touch. Around the blade, his dying enemy jerked and Sephiroth gripped his face in his hand.

"Look at her," the once general commanded jerking the man's head to the side. Aeris's hands were clasped as she tried not to remember the pierce of that pitiless steel.

"She saved you all, you worthless fool. She saved you from me long ago." He twisted the blade so it slid so smoothly, but he refused to let it eat at his heart. "But no one here can save you now. You can only beg for mercy."

The robber tried. He truly did, but his lungs were blocked by steel. With his broken hand he scrabbled against leather until the steel entered him deeper, sliding elegantly through his back so his body could only dance.

"I will play your flesh up the length of my sword until you find breath to beg." The unblinking eyes glanced at the blade. "It's going to be a very long song…"

"Mercy..."

Sephiroth glanced over to meet Aeris's eyes and she was pleading over folded hands. A sudden horror filled his face that was quickly covered by flawless mask.

"Be it so," he said and ripped the sword out in blackened rush. Death came before the body collapsed, but only Aeris felt the spirit depart. Sephiroth held his right hand up as the Masamune bled from its offering. The gang now leaderless howled for vengeance and unfroze to complete their rush, while the once general smiled only to himself for it was too horrible to let her see.

They came and attempted to pass him for her, and he cut through them like a scythe through wheat, but wheat could neither scream nor bleed, nor hold severed limbs in its clutch. Wherever he went death followed behind framed by gunshots and swinging steel. Aeris hid behind a car on cinderblocks, but she could not tear sight away. _He was made for killing, _she thought in hollow truth._ That is what he's for…_ But what she didn't expect was that it would be beautiful, a perfect song played with blood. He could make no move that wasn't robed in grace and she couldn't turn away from the horror. Over several he leapt, killing three in the process and leaving the rest without hands to grasp. The dead littered the ground and buried the living as they struggled to rise and run, but he chased them down enraged for new reason besides the ones that had burned him before. One's body was halved by a swing of the sword and the inverse took half a man's head. Red mist and brains seared through the air as Sephiroth slid in between. Another he skewered through the front, lifting the sword so he slid slowly down. The man struggled screaming til the sword parted his spine and he jerked like a waterless fish. Blood and guts painted the perfect steel while Sephiroth grabbed his victim's head and twisted in slow silence to snap.

The sector became a city made only of death and black boots walked over without care. There was only one more, quivering in the corner, trying to hide beneath mounds of dead men. The general ripped the bodies away and lifted his final foe free by the throat. Dropping him he laid the Masamune there until he heard the cry, "Enough!" Holding up her dress, Aeris ran toward her protector as he pushed the hair from his face.

"Please," she begged. "Please it's enough. Don't kill anymore for me." Her voice was hoarse from the tears in her throat as she stood over the condemned. The man reached up to clutch her hand, and the sword tip cut the hairs on his chin. The outlaw was far past the days of his youth, and the crags on his face wept with the dead's blood. His mouth worked soundlessly as his eyes darted wild between his death and his salvation.

"Please," she said again and the man mouthed her words, praying mimicry would grant him grace. A drop seeped from the end of the blade and slid down greasy skin like black rain. Sephiroth lifted and swung the weapon swift to the side, scattering the remnants of battle. He held the sword vertical on his palm so it shimmered as it slipped back between. The captive let a whimper escape clutching Aeris's wrist in slick sweat.

"It's alright," she promised with eyes lifted high as she tried to free her limb. The general reached forth to clasp the man's hand and it opened like a broken door.

"You live this day because of her mercy. I would've killed you all." His gaze flicked to her face, and she swore she saw shame before he motioned for her to come. The flower girl gave the man a pitying look as he shrank beneath innocent green. Over and between the fallen she stepped trying to ignore the horror. So many faces twisted in death in that moment made pure beneath. Aeris knew she was foolish to entertain such. They were going to take her for payment…

Sephiroth barely glanced to the maid at his side, but what he sensed told him more than he needed. The pulse at her throat tattooed her pale skin and he could hear the rush of blood in her veins. Even amongst death he could smell her fear like a stormy summer dusk. The bodies were strewn where they'd been flung, and he wanted to lift her above. But he was unclean, ever so tainted and could not touch her now. He could take off his gloves, but his hands still were dirty fouled with the blood of the slain. _And her blood…ever her blood on my soul. Her blood is the most damning of all._

"Sephiroth…" Aeris began as they wove their way through silent, hunched tenements. "I…should thank you. I could never have gotten through this on my own. It's a terrible thing to be small and weak-"

"You're not weak, chi...Aeris." He turned to her at the correction. There was a skittering just below his hearing, but no squeak proved it mere rats.

"I was too weak to get through this myself. I needed your strength for that." She was looking up in what he hoped was not admiration.

"Yes," he admitted, "I can break men, but you have the power to stop me...I'm glad that you did so again."

"I'm glad I was able to…do you feel any guilt?"

"For them?" His brow knit. "No. No, none at all. They were going to hurt you and were less than vermin….but they were still better than me."

"How can you say that?"

"Because I'm a monster. Nothing can change that fact." It wasn't bitter. It wasn't even sad. He was just stating the truth.

Aeris raised her eyes sorrowful to pristine white tormented by utter darkness. Not a hair on his head was stained by crimson. He'd danced with grace through raining blood drops to come out pure between.

"Nothing," she repeated. "Not even now you're good and your mind wasn't your own before?"

"No, Aeris," he told her. "That will not change it. I've done too many terrible things."

"What if I told that I don't believe it? That I don't think you're a monster at all."

"Your belief won't change the truth, little one, but I thank you all the same."

She laid a hand to his arm beneath its black leather, and he almost revealed his surprise. She looked down at the gloves again coating his hands then back up again with a grin. Without a word he removed the slick skin, and she buried her fingers in his warmth. Both her hands were small enough to fit in his one as she leaned against him as they walked. Sephiroth blinked several times in shock staring down at the top of her head.

"Little flower…" he whispered and Aeris looked up with a smile that lit all the slums.

They entered Sector 2, though the scratching still lingered as if something thrashed deep down below.


	5. Imminent Darkness

**"Gott weiß ich will kein Engel sein."**

**-Rammstein "Engel"**

**Chapter 5**

**Imminent Darkness**

It was clean, far too clean to dwell below in the slums. They must've decided at the very last minute that it wasn't worthy of being above, but the sector remembered and kept some of its pride to shine white light near bright as day. The lamps were high here though the plate was even higher ascending again after its dip. In the miasma of smoke and fog the lamplight spread along the strands. It almost created an overcast sense as though beyond the mist waited the sun.

The populace ignored her even the street sweepers. Aeris dwelled below even their care. As for her escort, he slid past their vision, stunning and better than they. The fact that he was with her didn't matter. Slum girls were easy to buy. This sector was only a layer away from the true city above. Even the destitute and poor have hierarchy, and Aeris flinched at another harsh glare.

Sephiroth sniffed. "This place reeks of Mako. The reactor here is fully active."

"You can tell that?" the Cetra jolted up. Her hands were still locked in his one. It seemed far safer despite the foul looks. She'd hate to get lost up here.

"Yes," he replied his nose lifted high. "It's not like it was deeper in. Below it's just residual power, what trickles down from above."

"Wh-What does it smell like?"

"You ask that a lot." He almost half smiled. "It's like heat coming off a cold stone. Molten metal somehow more frozen than the wastes beyond the far north."

Aeris shivered and any smile was lost as he lowered his head into memory. His madness had found him in the heart of a reactor and shame shrouded him from crown to toe.

"It's alright little one. Don't be afraid. I'm not going to turn again…"

"No, it's not that," she assured seeing his rue. "I just hate what it does to the Planet. I hate this city. I hate the corruption…and now it doesn't even have a face. They're all dead. All the ones who caused it, and I hate that there's nothing to fight."

"Yet…you don't hate me."

"You were another victim. Like me, like my friends, like this world."

He shook his head as the street widened to avenue and the light mimicked twilight at dusk. "You can always feel it, can't you, little flower?" he asked, disliking her dismay.

"Yes…I suppose it comes from being a 'daughter.'" She sighed before grinning up genuinely, and he tilted his head in surprise. "I'll feel better once we're out of the city. It's the epicenter of the Planet's grief."

Aeris squeezed his hand as they passed an elegant structure that mocked a cathedral with its grace. The flower girl's poor church could never compete, but she'd never deride that sanctuary no matter how decrepit it was.

"How do you suggest we find these 'Followers?'" Sephiroth's low voice interrupted her thoughts. A black post dangled white light over a shop where both maps and portraits were drawn. He could've burrowed through the minds of the people passing by, but that called the sharp twinge of wrong. _Something else that wasn't me. Something else distorted._

The flower girl was chewing her lip, and he raised a silver brow. "Well, ah, will you promise you won't be angry?"

"Angry," he restated. "With you? Child, I have no right." Sighing, Sephiroth corrected himself. "Aeris, that would be absurd. You could do nothing to make me angry."

"I hope not…" She looked up with huge eyes on his face, and he was tortured that she was scared. The once general pulled her beneath the awning beside a rusting rail. He laid his free hand to her smooth cheek, and the fear shivered out at his touch.

Aeris gazed up and couldn't help her smile. _He's so tall, _was her first thought. She shut her eyes but briefly and when she reopened his beauty radiated in summer green. All of her focus tangled away in hair spun from the threads of the moon, and the face it framed stole the breath from her throat as it quickened the pulse in her ears.

Sephiroth heard that and frowned confused, before sweeping the strands from his face. They tumbled to one side over epaulet and leather, and Aeris's words wouldn't come.

"Well, little one?" The low voice was patient. "What binds you to such a silence?"

It was so formal that in such a moment, Aeris could only laugh. A flicker on his face made her worry she'd been hurtful and she shook her head to dispel that at once.

"It's just I know more about the Followers than I let on before. I wouldn't want you to think that I lied."

"If you kept it from me I'm sure there was reason. I murdered you after all."

She glanced around worried, but no one had heard. None were paying them any attention.

"When I was revived," she said, brushing her bang, "well I assumed it was for you. You were the world's greatest enemy. What other reason could the Planet need me back?"

Sephiroth said nothing, but his eyes half closed, and the light shied away from her face.

"So I figured," she continued squeezing his hand, "I would find out what I could. Midgar…well, it hates you…the people blame you for all their ills. They need a scapegoat for their grief and…you were more than fitting." She forced herself see what pain this would cause, but his face held no expression. "But I heard rumors about groups that adored you-"

"They were mad as I…" he said.

"N-No," she refuted, "not that at all. They believed that you'd been used."

Emerald remained lowered and Aeris noticed his lashes enhanced the angelic look. _Hiding the cat eyes helps, _she thought, but then, _it makes him look so sad…_

"Well groups like that don't last for long…" She shuddered and he cupped her shoulder. "They were…killed." She swallowed as she drew nearer. "Very publicly in the central hub. Some were beaten to death. Some were shot. And a few were even burned alive. Remember I told you speaking your name could get your tongue torn out?"

Sephiroth nodded, resisting the urge to pull her closer in. She was an innocent forced to see horror all because of him.

"There are people who were silenced in just such a way even if they said it as curse."

"And yet these 'Followers' still exist…" His low voice failed to hide its guilt.

"They kept themselves as rumor, but even rumor can bloom for a price." Aeris allowed the slight half grin as she thanked her mother again.

"So you found out the truth, little one?" he asked as her hand shifted in his palm.

"Not completely," she admitted, "but I know where to find them…at the very least."

The shopkeeper frowned when they vacated their space and took hope of some business away. Sephiroth concentrated on hiding who he was behind the gleaming Mako eyes. Her little hand so trusting in his kept the once general peering down. She seemed neither ashamed nor alarmed and in truth it was helping his ruse. This tiny, stunning gem in enthusiasm leading the semblance of who he was. He let his mind flicker to these haughty slum-born, seeing no recognition there. _It doesn't work on her though. She'll always see you…_ Beneath the shadow of elegance they passed. It dwarfed his height with its austere steps, and in shade a small shop gnawed on its domain.

Aeris grinned up as he opened the door, and Sephiroth ducked to follow her inside. He was forced to dim his sense of smell for the candles lining the walls. It overrode even the Mako reek and was more cloying than the flower girl's blooms. The ceiling was as low as the shop was dim, and dust froze in Mako cold. Wooden beams crossed the top hung with knick-knacks, strange baubles, and macabre toys. Beneath the floor, though, there dwelled a large space, and his boots echoed silence below.

Aeris was pulling at her hand in his and he let her go to sorry soft. The warmth of his palm felt so empty now with no more use to give. At the counter the girl there wore porcelain face, but her dress was more fit for a funeral. She was leaning bored on a lacy, half glove as the little Cetra approached. Her hair was blacker than the false sky above, but the tips were as winter white. Neon green poured in hard scrutiny, but she saw neither that nor him. Sliding a finger beneath the counter, she inspected the dirt with brows held tight as though searching for some flaw.

After some moments she held her hand out, fingertip lifted high. "I doubt even this would be in your price range. Run along home, slum girl." Then picked up a book, flipped carelessly through and ignored all else save those words.

Sephiroth approached as Aeris recoiled as though she'd been struck hard. The anger that boiled left terror in its wake, and his voice was the general's.

"Have a care how you speak. You're a slum girl, as well, and she's not caked to the bone in makeup."

The shopkeeper gasped jerking up glossy eyes under heavily painted lids.

"Do you know me?" Sephiroth asked staring down hard with neon cold as sleet.

"N-No…sir," she swallowed. "No I don't…I surely don't know you."

"Really." He clasped his hands behind his back and looked down his nose with disdain. It was the first time Aeris had seen such an expression on his ever passive face. "You see me before you. You presume to judge her, and you can't even tell me _my_ name?" His hair burned silver as a sky full of moons as his bangs stirred forth for his breath. "I ask again…do-you-know-me?"

"I…" The shopkeeper trembled, working her words like a piece of overcooked meat. Great Mako eyes cut her as sharp as the slivers at their heart.

Sephiroth whirled to pace the floor throwing glares over his shoulder. Gone was the sorrow, the guilt and remorse. Gone was the endless despair. _No not gone, _Aeris thought, _buried in arrogance. He could hide it. He could hide it all._

"I was told I would find my answers here, and you don't even know my name." His leather coat whipped as he turned again, and he held his gaze hard as he walked. A tear formed in the shopkeeper's eyes, her sight smearing on sea-foam skin. "I was told that you were 'Followers," but you can't even see what you seek." His pupils turned thin as the Masamune's edge as the air rushed from her lungs. He wouldn't touch her mind, but the reaction to that word left him without any doubt. "Now, you who claim to owe allegiance. Tell. Me. Who. I. Am." With the last word he cast the shroud aside and the shopkeeper collapsed to the floor.

The arrogant mask fell fast in grief as Sephiroth rushed forward. Aeris crouched over and felt for a pulse as the girl's eyes rolled behind closed lids.

"Please child, get up," the once general said, trading disdain for regret. He used no persuasion, but the girl still obeyed, opening her eyes before sitting up. She pushed lank, bi-colored strands from her vision and stared up at angelic face.

"H-How is this possible? How are you here? Did I-" Her nostrils flared at each breath that passed.

"Evil never dies…" He lowered his head in sorrow, and Aeris gave him a glare to shame the hidden sword. "I'm living proof of that."

"Imminent darkness…" the shopkeeper whispered. "Imminent darkness will come."

"What are you talking about?" he snapped with narrowed eyes as the girl pulled away from Aeris. The Cetra ignored the haughty glance and hoped Sephiroth would do the same.

The shopkeeper scanned the room fitfully, but there was no one but they three. She trembled to her feet and reached through the baubles to pull a switch that doused all the lights. Instant gloom bled only green, and they all shimmered in luminescence.

"We…we can't talk here. Please come with me where the walls have less ears and no eyes." She lurched around and locked the front door, staring briefly through the windows. Her black dress was bunched in sweaty hands, but she still stumbled to pass by his shade. In the back of the shop was a heavy black door bound and chased with silver. Nowhere in the slums should've boasted this luxury so it glimmered behind heavy curtains.

If the door was heavy their hostess didn't show, pulling it free of its frame with no creak. The staircase beyond spiraled down to shadow, and Aeris's heart near deafened his ears. "Don't fear, little one," Sephiroth assured, "I'm right here close behind." He balked the minute those words left his lips, but she reached back for his hand. The click of the shopkeeper's high heeled boots began to echo as the earth closed them round. Aeris's shoes squeaked like trapped rats, but Sephiroth heard no scratching now. The moisture and soil mixed with the Mako, but it would take more than those to hide it.

When the wall receded Aeris noticed the carpet like a heavy, black sky without stars, but the first thing Sephiroth had to face was the image of himself. Above an obsidian mantle place between candles that burned without smoke hung a portrait overflowed with pride and disdain captured for all time.

Aeris gave a little squeak as he lifted her down to the floor. He jumped off the side and strode to the picture face to face with the distant past. No madness was there just arrogance and belief that he was the best of them all. A sigh escaped to summon regret, and silver shivered to shaken hair.

"It doesn't do you justice." He turned to stare at the shop girl over a pauldron. In the descent though, she'd cast off that role and her face held the pride his had lost. "And the artist is long dead." His unblinking gaze froze her as he struggled not to seek if she'd killed him herself.

"I have nothing left but guilt." He returned to his face. "But it does serve some purpose. I seek my mother's lonely grave to acknowledge that once she was mine."

Aeris held her silence hard as the grip between her small clasped hands. The girl in black attempted one word, and his hiss raised their hair like a scream.

"Je-"

"Don't you _ever_ speak that name." Green eyes turned to shards to slice through the dark memory. "That horror did not birth me. I now know the truth, though I'm still a monster. My mother's name was Lucrecia Crescent." He glanced back to Aeris still clutching her hands as her old boots sank deep in the carpet.

"Very few people know that truth," the once shop girl admitted.

That he agreed with. "It was kept tight by those who dwelled above."

"Above, above, what's above? We're the ones who molder below…" Her smile had Aeris sidling closer to him, and Sephiroth frowned in the pall of her fear.

"Who are you?" he asked. There was more than silence beneath the shop, not even the candles crackled. Aeris opened her mind to find her dear friend, but the Planet was strangely still.

"My name is Phaedra Levanah and I'm the leader of the Followers of Seph."

He walked away from the portrait slowly shaking his head. "No one should strive to follow me, child, a monster a hundred years dead."

Phaedra faked calm as her hands shook in lace and her knees threatened to give way. "The other…the others will be here soon. They'll never believe…will you sta-"

"No." He shook his head and his hands clenched to fists as waves of past crashed against memory.

"In imminent darkness you'll return and imminent darkness you'll bring." Phaedra wanted to approach, but her legs could not move and support her at the same time.

"That time is over." The low voice rang. "Those days are dead and buried. I have only one wish to find my true mother and beg for her forgiveness."

"Imminent darkness…black winged death. Angels can't change their fate."

"Then it's lucky for all that I'm not."

"Darkness follows wherever you go waiting for your command."

Aeris raised folded hands in front of her face as panic threatened to descend. The Planet was direly trying to reach her, and its muteness left her blind.

"Let it wait." Sephiroth turned away. "Let it wait forever and more." He let his gaze fall on the little Cetra, stricken again to witness her prayers, but as remorse thinned, he held to her brightness and found in it slivers of hope. "Let it rot in the shadows until it finally decays into light."

"You know darkness doesn't work like that." White tipped hair whipped Phaedra's cheeks as the Follower shook her head.

Sephiroth shut his eyes tight, sighing hard as he stepped towards the stairs. Aeris reached and grabbed his hand, and grief swam through the skin of his palm. "I…thank you." He hid defeat with courtesy. "None should stoop to worship me. This should end before you're caught."

They had not even reached the stairs when the whisper made silence its king. "Beneath the northern lights you'll find her."

Sephiroth froze just like the marble that mimicked his flawless skin. "What was that?"

"Beneath the northern lights she sleeps…"

Slowly he turned to face their strange hostess. "That is where my mother's interred?"

"That is where you'll find her."

"North…" he whispered, as Aeris took his other hand with tears in her eyes trembling up. "The same direction I've always gone once to madness and twice to grief."

Phaedra nodded and held his gaze as though they two shared a secret, but Sephiroth looked away uncaring what other darkness she had to impart. He glanced down and realized how he and Aeris were standing, clasping hand to hand with brief space. That made him so sad that he had to release her sweeping away and back to the stairs. The little Cetra put a knuckle to her lips as her skin twitched to the shopkeeper's glare.

"Thank you for true this time," the once general said for the girl was owed that respect.

"The kingdom lies beneath the foundation," was her reply "and the foundation is rotting above."

He narrowed his eyes to thinness as black lashes played in the light. "Forget me. Forget her. Play with your shadows, but hide from the night."

Phaedra's mouth hinged open, but her tongue was paralyzed. A dark miasma moved through her mind and swallowed up silver memory. Sea-foam skin was washed in dark seas, and the portrait became the only glory to flash cold Mako eyes.

_Author's Note: Not a very long chapter, I know and apologize. Next weeks will be much more extensive. I thank you for all your comments, favorites, and follows!_


	6. Urban Sprawl

**"****When true hearts lie withered and fond ones are flown,**

**Oh who would inhabit this bleak world alone."**

**-Thomas Moore "The Last Rose of Summer"**

**Chapter 6**

**Urban Sprawl**

Out on the street the lights slid to yellow, dribbling away the sector's arrogance in rue. Everyone in the slums lived and died by those lights, even those who presumed to judge. Aeris wondered if lurkers from below came here in reflected red, and she shivered til she felt the tall presence above and peered up with a hopeful smile. Sephiroth couldn't comprehend how she could trust him so quickly. Just that morning she'd screamed to awaken in the corruption of Mako light, but now she was looking up at him as though he wasn't her murderer. Beyond the cold reek, which hadn't subsided, he could smell they were close to the edge. The yellow lights were causing a scurry of humanity as people interred themselves behind doors.

"Oh look!" Her soft voice lifted in glee and Sephiroth paused in her joy. The Cetra was crouched to a crack in the street where from the fissure issued a flower. Her small hands were cupped around the frail bud as she looked up at him in delight. She was amazed that such a life had managed to be untrampled by careless feet. "We must be close to the city's edge. How else could such a thing grow?"

"It could've sprung up as you walked by." Surprise followed in the wake of a smile. She consistently managed to pull that expression from his otherwise empty face. "Will you pluck it, little one?"

"No." She decided standing up. "It's survived this long. It deserves a chance to bloom." He tilted his head as they shared that smile, which endured til they reached the fence.

Aeris's gasp could've been a whimper as she clutched at the cold links. Up and up it soared still below the plate that bore down in darkness. She could see where that ended, but the distance still shadowed the world beyond Midgar's pall. Through the holes she could fit her slim arms, but nothing else would pass, and the hard steel chilled her forehead as the flower girl sobbed in defeat.

"Aeris…" The low voice was soft from above and the Cetra turned her head. He was standing right beside her with a frown of the perplexed. "Little flower, there's no need to weep. I'll just cut through this barrier."

"N-No, Sephiroth, you can't do that…" She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand before turning back towards her lost freedom. Doing so made her miss the raised brow that almost pulled amusement.

"Why not, little one? It would free you from the slums and any others who could make it this far."

"I know…" She sniffed and looked back at him, cheeks spotted and eyes still wet. "It's just I don't remember this fence before, but it must've been raised for a reason. Probably to keep something terrible out."

_Or to keep people in, _he thought, but didn't let it darken his tongue.

"Do you remember it when you came to Midgar?"

"Yes, but I was able to find a gate and locks mean nothing to me."

"Oh yes, of course there'd be a gate!" Her face brightened to this revelation.

Sephiroth cast his gaze to the left before turning to pierce the right.

"The closest one to the south is two miles away and north is beyond the fence curve."

"You can see that far?"

"Yes," he admitted, surprised by her awe, but hiding it in the mask. "There's only one way to go, little one…if you won't let me cut through." And he gave her again that slight almost smile that gave his passive features such light.

Aeris shook her head. "The fence must've been built to keep something terrible out, and there are enough monsters and murderers within."

_There will be one less of both after today. _But he kept that dark thought quiet as he bound his forelocks at the crown. Aeris refused to bite her lip, because if he asked her what was the matter, she wouldn't know what to say. He shook silver out, took two steps forward and slid gracefully to his knees.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Her hand found her heart for moonlight so splayed on black.

"If we can't go through, we must go up, and I will carry you there. But since I need my hands for climbing, I'll bear you on my back. Do you trust me in this, little flower?" The flower maid had never once imagined that cat eyes could hold such grief. She laid a hand to his cheek so smooth like marble pulsing warmth.

"I trust you completely," Aeris whispered.

Crystalline emerald searched a face that could hold no deception before he looked away and tilted back his head as arms so slim slipped around his neck. Sephiroth shut his eyes when she could not see, as Aeris slowly inhaled. Never in this life or the one before had she smelled anything so good. The hair still free blanketed his shoulders so the epaulets weren't so cold. It was softer than curtains of moonlit silk and held his scent in its endless folds. Aeris only wished that she could breathe deeper, wondering if she were enspelled.

Sephiroth turned and there she was…her lips so close to his own. If he but smiled, they'd surely meet and her joy would disappear. The despair that rose made no sense so he concentrated on his next task, laying a palm to the hands at his neck to make sure they were secure. Against his back her heart more than doubled and filled his ears with her fear.

"I didn't mean to frighten you, little flower…" It was softly said, but at that low resonance the blood flooded her veins even more.

"N-No, you didn't frighten me. You didn't frighten me at all…"

_I suppose, _he thought, _she must be excited to be leaving the dark slums behind. _This eased his contrition as he closed one hand around both of her fragile wrists. The little Cetra's heart could've sundered her ribs, as her breath came in choppy bursts.

"Aeris?" he murmured with deeper concern. "Are you alright, little flower?"

_Ah, dear friend, _the Cetra thought, _it's worse when he says my name. _"Y-Yes, I'm fine," she answered in whisper, as the Planet laughed soft through her ears.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Aeris," Sephiroth promised as he stood. "Will you be able to hold on?" He peered over his shoulder. Behind his lips his teeth clenched tight to bear the sight of her face so close.

"I-I think so."

"If you feel yourself slipping, let me know. I won't let you fall, little flower."

"I know you won't, Sephiroth," she whispered. "Just like I know you won't hurt me again."

He stared hard at her tight shut eyes as she trembled upon his back. "Alright. I'm going to let your wrists go. I need both hands for climbing."

"…okay."

She half opened her eyes and summer held emerald for a moment that stretched til he turned. Sephiroth unwrapped his long fingers and Aeris clasped her hands 'til they ached.

His head was raised for the goal in sight eyes bright in concentration. The space in the links were a bit small for his hands and smaller still for his boots, but the former general had done harder tasks, and bent metal was small price for her safety. His biggest concern was not jarring the maid so he lessened his speed for her sake.

"You know you're as white as my lilies," she said, the thought spilling into his ear.

"You're very pale, too, little one," he replied, the hint of a smile within. Nowhere in his voice was the arduous task. Nowhere in his breath was exertion.

"Yes…" Aeris admitted. "But I've never seen the sun. Your skin is lighter than your hair, and you know you smell amazing…" _Oh gods, why did I say that? What is _wrong_ with me?_

If Aeris didn't hear the chuckle she'd never believe it was real, and the flower girl wished to see his face where it would be displayed.

"You just say whatever comes to your head, don't you, little flower?"

"Well…" she considered clinging tight. "If it's nice, why not?"

"You are so very innocent and kind within it all." In the echo of mirth sorrow still lay, and Aeris laid her cheek against his.

Sephiroth kept his head tilted up and tried to ignore the soft call of her skin. The distance to the top was not half achieved, but he could make out the landing up there. Nearly fifty feet higher above rose the plate and it stretched still beyond the fence. The edge of the disk would've blurred in the distance for eyes that were not made to see.

Aeris didn't know how it was possible for him to keep up this rapid pace. Beneath the pauldrons his arms worked ceaseless as the flower girl's ached to hold on.

"Little flower," he murmured slightly turning, but keeping an eye ever up. He stopped with one hand gripping the fence and the other around her wrists. The once general frowned in doubt of his choice at such a slow set pace. "I'm so sorry, Aeris. I thought it'd be better to climb slower so you could hold on."

"Y-You were climbing _slowly_?" The tension in her hands was easing so augmented by his strength.

"Yes. I can go faster, but if you feel yourself slipping, you must immediately let me know. Do you still trust me?"

"Always," she whispered, the word a sweet burn in his ear.

He glanced back for just a second and down where the ground yawned below. The span of space between him and it didn't even draw a twitch, but before memory could encroach for a higher descent, he forced his mind back to this task.

The wind from his speed streamed back through pale hair as equally as through chestnut, and the scent it called forth would've mesmerized her if Aeris wasn't shocked at his swiftness. Like silk through water he ascended the fence, barely touching the chains as he passed. The flower girl wanted to tell him that this was far smoother, but she'd lost all her speech to bare awe.

Only a few feet above him now the landing now jutted. It topped the steel fence and he had to reach up with one hand still gripping the chains. "Hold on, little flower. I have to lean back." Aeris forced her grasp tighter and bit her lip now to offset the pain in her hands. Her fingers were numb and she could only pray that they wouldn't unlace.

With one hand on the top Sephiroth let go, leaving the toes of his boots between links. There was a split second for gravity's chance, but he caught that force unawares. The maid on his back deterred not his strength as he laid both palms flat to cold steel. He pulled himself and Aeris up until his boots could find the landing. Guilt flooded the Cetra for the grip at his neck as Sephiroth stood tall to take a few steps. Then down he crouched so her feet touched steel, but she was too afraid to move. He gently took and unthreaded her hands as one would a delicate knot. Drawing the maid around, he searched her face, and she missed the smile for her shut eyes.

Aeris flung her arms round his neck, face to face this time. Sephiroth's lips parted, but silence had found him for the sobs that echoed the gloom. He wrapped the Cetra in his arms as she wept her fear away, while each tear pierced his broken soul that no armor could protect.

"I'm sorry, Aeris. I'm so sorry…we should've found a gate. I could've carried you easily there instead of risking your life." He stood then though his head bowed low to bathe her in silver fragrance. The flower girl blinked up washed in moonlight as emerald gleamed grieving down.

"No…don't you dare." She forced the tears leave her voice. His hand rested between her shoulder blades, fingers curled on memory's pain. "You're…just amazing." Salt glistened with awe. "This must be a hundred feet high."

"Don't praise me yet, little flower," he said. "We must still find our way back down."

She stiffened with fear and he stilled his tongue, cursing his directness. Aeris craned her neck to view the other side, but couldn't see the fence. The landing was wide enough to walk two by two so long as one's step wasn't wide. Sephiroth looked only at her as her soft braid swept over his hand. He was like a statue of alabaster in black for if she noticed she'd pull away.

"H-How are we going to do that?" the little Cetra shuddered to ask. She pulled herself closer and his eyes opened wide at the inverse of rational thought.

"There's only one way. Do you trust me still?"

"Yes, Sephiroth, always." A quivering smile lifted her lips to ease the doubt on his face. He swept her up swiftly into his arms before she could fashion a gasp. The minute squeak was far more embarrassing, but the former general didn't judge. His expression could not help but soften as she slid her arms around his neck.

"You must promise me one thing, Aeris," he said. "You must keep your eyes ever closed."

"That won't be hard," the Cetra admitted. "They were closed the entire way up."

Sephiroth tilted his head and the half smile wavered. "And yet you noticed my pale as your lilies. Did it burn through your sealed lids, little one?"

"I…uh…" Fire flooded her cheeks and she had to cool them against his armor. The leather at his collar hid her face, though her heart turned quickly traitor. The half smile he'd worn, though small and unseen, disappeared with swift chagrin.

"I didn't mean to shame you, Aeris."

"No, you didn't at all." He still heard it clear through the leather. "I…I was thinking about it for a long time. I don't know why I said it then." She lifted her head and froze in the beauty of a winter pale angel's face.

Sephiroth's brow arched and he almost asked the maid what held her so entranced, but the edge of the landing was at his toes and he said instead, "Shut your eyes."

Aeris obeyed without question though she was regretful to lose that sight. Green light pulsed against her skin, and she buried her face in his hair.

"I have you, little flower," he promised, and then the wind whipped the silk scent away. It would've been cold but he radiated heat as his arms closed around her tight.

_I have you…_ Those words should've brought raining horror. They should've driven her mad with fear, but in this moment they were the most wonderful words that she could ever hear. The foul upward gale tried to claw the little Cetra, but its strength was no match for his. Something struck it hard. The wind whimpered so beaten before ceasing its cry in defeat.

"Little flower?" The sweet name returned her lost smile. "You can open your eyes now. We're down."

But she couldn't, not yet, while her skin still shivered slowly warmed by his heat. Her face was hidden in the leather near his neck, but Aeris could still sense his pain.

"Please, Sephiroth, don't put me down yet. Just…give me a few moments more."

"Aeris, I'll hold you as long as you wish." He hardly dared move for this grace. She was as delicate as the lilies she cultivated with her frail limbs around his neck. When her eyes opened, they were uncertain like lost leaves, but the summer green flooded his vision far fairer than emerald that gleamed so cold.

The flower girl smiled up at him and his lips parted in awe. Hers were so pink against creamy skin, and he lowered his eyes for her gratitude. He could never undo the horror he'd wrought and did not deserve her thanks. Aeris tilted her head curious to his thoughts, but let him have them to peer around. It was rare she was granted so high of a view so she basked in it despite the sight. On this side of the fence nothing existed but the castoffs from above. Crates and containers bigger than houses, offering more luxury than the slums. More vehicles, some opulent, more mostly junk, all made equal down below. But beyond all this, Aeris saw whiter light and caught her breath in hard held elation. Sephiroth's gaze lay in that direction, too, and she was envious for his better sight.

"How did you do that?" If her voice wasn't expected he gave no outward sign. The former general half lidded eyes so the slivers were not so apparent.

"Some things are better left unsaid and are not meant for innocent sight." He put her down then, but kept his hands on her shoulders with a look that asked if this was allowed. Aeris smiled at him in assurance letting her gaze travel up the fence. The landing they'd come from was shadowed by distance, and she slowly shook her head.

"I'm no glad I never tried to leave the city alone. Even if I could've gotten through that sector, I could never have made it past this."

"There are other gates, but they're certainly locked, and who holds the key is unknown."

"They're probably-" she started and a glow tinged her cheeks as something scuttled within the gloom. Sephiroth snapped his head toward the sound, as his left hand shaped itself for the sword. He sniffed but smelled only rats in proximity, though farther the reek grew more foul. Electric intensity rode his skin for the soft belly beneath his right palm.

"I'm sorry, little one." He dropped his hand before stepping back and away. Aeris, in giddiness, turned bemused quite curious for his chagrin.

"You don't need to be," she assured him. "You were just…protecting me." From the gloom his eyes gleamed, and he reached for his crown before shaking the silver locks loose. Aeris remembered how good moonlight smelled, and her hands tightened behind her slung bag. It was maddening to wonder how such hair would feel between her slim, soft fingers. She turned her head as he came to her side, praying this stay unknown.

"Keep to my right," he told her, "just in case I need the sword." There were no lights in this edge of the city, the ones still standing long turned to husks. Sorrow ringed her heart for what had been lost and what was still being destroyed, but the Planet sent music to lighten her soul and assure her it wasn't dead yet.

"Your…" She cleared her throat. "Your hair…the bangs are similar to mine." She smiled at him through her own.

"So they are, little one." His glare pierced the shadow astride a tank and what lurked there scampered away. "I always brushed it myself," he remembered. "I would suffer no other's touch."

"But…I was just touching it," Aeris reminded and she thought his lip twitched slightly up.

"That's different," he said offering a hand to help her over what once was a bridge. It spanned nothing now and was only a hindrance where it had once been an aid. Aeris held his fingers tight after he'd jumped down, but it was beyond her means. So Sephiroth reached to pick the maid up as if she were as light as a leaf. Aeris tight gripped forearms so strong beneath the leather black. With her feet on the ground he kept his hands still as green light illumined his lashes. She wet her lips and he lifted one finger to tilt her chin in the air.

"You're not just anyone, Aeris," he told her, "and I don't mind you touching my hair…"

"You don't?" she whispered unseeing the thumb that slowly crept to her lip.

"No, little flower…I-"

A snarl had him whirling with sword pulled from the air as he pushed Aeris behind. Dizzy from moments so fast torn away, the flower girl peered warily round. Sephiroth stalked forward, face fallen to mask, to witness a gruesome feast. Creatures that may have once been dogs turned monstrous by Mako mutation. Even after a hundred years, the horrors of the past still slunk, and he frowned in the gleam of the Masamune, shivering gaze away from his face.

"Aeris," he called reaching back with right hand and his attention to the beasts. Their eyes glowed faintly as their jaws crunched bone, but the gleam did not best Mako green. Sephiroth took her hand and hurried the maid past before she could see withered fingers.

The monsters were everywhere and he kept the sword pointed as their feet skimmed over brown bone. Aeris would've prayed, but her heart stole her pleas to pound hard in her throat. Sephiroth heard and squeezed her hand gently, bringing the maid close to his side.

"I-I thought bone was white…" It wasn't really for him, but he flicked his gaze to the side. The flower girl shook in slivered scrutiny and wished she'd held her silence.

"Only bleached by the sun." He returned to their path ensuring his were the only lit eyes. "Bone is far different than stories make seen, especially covered in rotting flesh."

She shuddered and Sephiroth bowed his head, damning his directness.

"Were they trying to get out or trying to get in?" Aeris avoided a lump of bright plastic. Bits beneath her boot had scattered like stained glass, but it had once been a child's toy.

"Out," he replied, pulling her forward as the shadow of the plate dissolved.

No sun graced her skin. It was hidden by storm that sent silent rain to the ruins. Stone as grey as the shimmering air went farther than Aeris could see. Neither bird, nor flower, nor even grass blade broke this deathly view. Midgar's ruin continued even beyond the desolation beneath the plate, but Aeris raised her head with lips half parted and didn't even blink for the rain. Soft it tangled in braided hair held tight in the threadbare ribbon.

"Aeris?" She turned and summer green widened to witness what light did to him. Even hidden by clouds the daylight paid service to white fire and paler skin. He'd banished the sword as the air shimmered around him, and she wondered if beauty could shine. A line of water slid down his face, a tear from silver strands. It avoided being cut by exquisite cheekbones to trace the line of delicate jaw. Tumbling down his neck, the leather straps caught it, and Aeris had to shift her gaze.

"You're weeping, child…" Sephiroth said softly, drops lit in the heat of his gaze.

"It's…just the rain." Aeris tried to deflect.

"I can smell your tears."

She swallowed then and let them run, mixing salt with heaven's pain.

"You kept your promise." She drew near, and he tilted his head confused.

"What promise? That I'd never hurt you again?" Sephiroth looked away. He shook his head to tight clenched jaw, unable to face admiration. "That's not a promise, Aeris. It's an obligation to decency. I should never have hurt you before…"

"You promised to take me out of the city," she insisted, standing in front of him now. "You promised to protect me and you did both."

Sephiroth's lids half shaded his eyes as he looked down at the maid. Fists tight to his sides, the leather gloves would've screamed if they'd been given a voice. "I owe you so much, little flower. More than can be repaid. Even if I had this life and the last, my soul could never be cleaned. This small thing…this little promise is nothing to praise me for."

"It's everything." Her voice broke and she lifted her hands to his chest. "Can't you see that? Can't you see what it means?"

Sephiroth sighed, "I haven't quite yet. I also vowed to ensure you'd be safe." He gestured to the wastes and the shadows behind. "We're still in the midst of desolation and you need someplace safe to rest."

"I'm always safe with you…" She was biting her lip and only utmost control kept his gloves intact.

"I've passed this way before." He measured his words as if each one were precious gold. "A harsh, bitter barren, robbed of all life when Midgar rose above."

Emerald eyes narrowed as he witnessed her wince, but she nodded to acknowledge the truth. "Yes…because of this city the Planet can't bear so close to its vicinity. It's…awful. Midgar just sucks it dry even after all these years."

"It's worse than you think, Aeris," Sephiroth admitted. "Not even all the reactors are active. The one in the second was running full force, but where you lived there was barely a pulse." _Only a scratch. _He held that in silence and her shudder was shushed in the rain.

"But," he added, "what I mean to impart is the next path is rough terrain." When he laid his hand over the maid's frail fingers, she shut her eyes with a smile. Sephiroth couldn't comprehend her reaction, her heart's jump with no trace of fear, but he remembered that he had once been a general, and a task now lay before. "I'll carry you through and swiftly…if you'll but allow."

"I trust you, Sephiroth." And when he swept the maid up, her smile nearly broke him.

Aeris kept her eyes soft closed, sliding slim arms around his neck. She'd been trying her whole life to see the sun and avoid death down in the darkness, but the latter had still found the maid and now held her gently but tight. She opened her eyes and there he was masking sorrow behind his face. The Cetra ran fingers down his smooth cheek, barely realizing he now walked. It couldn't be fear in grief's grey mist for what could make him afraid? _Do you know you're beautiful? _She wanted to say it, but bit her lip instead.Aloud she murmured, "That's so strange." And he lifted a silver brow.

"What is, little one?"

Aeris half blinked for his voice was so quiet to soothe.

"Well…" It was hard to concentrate with that face so close, the gorgeous, angelic features. "Your hair's moonlight, your skin darkens snow, but your eyelashes are full black. It's incongruent, but…so lovely."

When he smiled, she caught her breath and thanked the gods he looked away. "Just another part of my design, little flower, an arrangement of genes and cells." Though the words were sad, his smile was real. Talking to her was an undeserved joy. She was enthralled by the smallest of details and never held back her awe. Pain shot through his heart as he remembered again what he had stolen away.

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true. I am so because of design." Beneath his boots the stony ground seemed marble and not rubble and ruin and rot.

The fingers on his cheek curled ever slightly and Sephiroth slid his gaze back to her. Below those long lashes that she had so praised, his pupils were thinner than thorn.

"You attribute everything to your 'creators,' and never to yourself."

"I have nothing to attribute, Aeris, save for pain and death."

"Not to me."

"Not this time…"

"This time is all that matters."

Sephiroth looked away as he quickened his pace, and she barely noticed them clearing a chasm. Below a stone staircase that had no end, he avoided the sleeping monster, gracefully traversing a path no wider than his boots. He hopped to a high bridge broken off in crumbled stone that screed beneath his feet as he slid.

_I don't deserve to touch her, _he thought, covering the small hand on his cheek. Her smile rivaled the glow from his eyes for not even Mako gleam marred her face. Aeris laid her cheek to his still smiling unknown to his pain. He was so warm beneath her soft skin, and he smelled more than amazing. Held in his hair, the scent wove miasma that would color the greyest of dreams.

"I'm so glad you're good now, Sephiroth," she whispered, her lips a hairsbreadth from his ear. He ran now along a deep defile, scanning for means to cross.

"You believe I am?" the once general asked, pausing where the gap narrowed slight.

"Yes," she insisted, "you saved me in darkness and then brought me out to the light. I wish I had a fraction of your strength."

"You have all of my strength, little flower." He backed away from the edge. "For as long as you have need." The wind clawed at her braid as he tore through the air, leaping an impossible distance. "Being good does have its advantages though." She peered up as his boots scraped loose gravel.

"Like what?"

"Being able to hold you." Sephiroth smiled again, and Aeris sat up to press a kiss to his cheek. She laid her head to his shoulder which cooled her pink skin, as his jaw dropped below emerald wide. The Cetra was grinning with her eyes shut and he could hardly bear her joy.

"Aeris…you-"

"I have to thank you. I-I'm sorry to interrupt." But he was beyond glad that she had. "For this. For safety. For keeping your promise even if you don't think you did."

The way narrowed and bent to the side, so Sephiroth increased his speed. Aeris was forced to hide her face in his hair lest her breath be stolen away. The former general ran so fast his boots grazed the wall and for an instant they were horizontal. It was a dark tunnel where trains had once churned and where once there'd been a full floor. Neither darkness nor gravity had power this day, and Aeris silently thanked the Planet. Even amidst squalor that proved the damage so done, her dear friend still sang in her ear.

"You're…you're just…you can probably run for hours-"

"Days."

"Days on end." The passing wind trailed the end of her words as she jerked her head toward him. Sephiroth was impassively looking forward, focused on the next obstacle.

"…days? Really?"

He nodded. "I was designed to be flawless."

"You weren't 'designed,'" she huffed, pursing her lips, and he couldn't hide his amusement. Her stubbornness was quite endearing. "You were born like everyone else."

"I was created in a lab, little flower. It is the most appropriate word."

"No." Aeris shook her head and sadness lifted his lips. "You're a person _not _a monster."

"And you're kind beyond measure, but nothing will change the truth."

"One truth doesn't lead to the other, and you now know your mother's name."

Upon a peak he stood tall, but the great heart sank at those words. The height did not equal the fence in Midgar, but Aeris still shut her eyes. Nothing beat the wind back, but he took most of the shock and left little to nothing for her.

"I'll never believe you're a monster again." She squeezed her arms around his neck, and Sephiroth realized in bittersweet pang that she was trying to hold him. He shifted his grip around the small maid with a lift for a silver brow. When Aeris glared up, he shook his head amazed at her defiance. "And you're not my murderer anymore either. You're my protector now…"

That bowed his head and she was then lost in a sea of whirling white.

"I've never protected anyone before."

She pursed her lips. "But…you were in SOLDIER. You were a general. You were…the _Great_ General." He shut his eyes hard, and she wondered why that title would garner such pain.

"That was different…" he finally said. "There's a certain reciprocity among brothers-in-arms, but even before my will was twisted, I destroyed far more than I saved. This…" He held the flower girl closer so green called to green cross their lashes. "This is better. Protecting you has a far greater purpose than anything I've ever done."

His boots crunched on gravel that tried to quell grass, but the earth was reclaiming its own. Warmth bathed his face and he stared up forgetting that sunlight was not meant for him. For he carried this flower and if any deserved such it was a rose that once bloomed in the slums. Her one hand had fallen from around his neck to rest upon her soft belly, but Sephiroth couldn't look there for long without the stab of endless guilt. He turned to her face, but summer was sealed behind her thin eyelids.

"Aeris," he whispered peering back up to the rainbow that swirled through the clouds. The spray had now softened to cover his face in tears he could never weep. She didn't respond and Sephiroth gazed back down to a miracle beyond his dreams.

"You fell asleep in my arms…" It could not be believed as her breath stirred soft his hair. "How can you trust me so, little flower?" His low voice caused a beautiful smile to light her face brighter than day. The Cetra turned towards him, tiny hands curling soft against his chest. "Only the innocent, Aeris…" he whispered. "Only the innocent could fall asleep in a monster's arms." But though she wasn't awake to argue, the dark thought dispelled in newly freed daylight.


	7. A Calm and Private Place

_Author's Note: Perhaps you could take this as a musical recommendation as was done in Chapter 4,_ _but really I just wanted to share the piece that was in my ears as I wrote and edited this chapter: the score from the Pixar short La Luna found if you just click the link. Perfect for gazing at the stars. __Stella nobis non concessit..._

"**There is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars."**

**-John Green "The Fault in Our Stars"**

**Chapter 7**

**A Calm and Private Place**

No nightmares could find her, not where she was, as cool air tickled her face. She was still curled up, but what was beneath was not leather above hard muscle. Under her head was no epaulet for it gave way with a shush for her cheek. Something warm covered her, but it smelled nowhere as sweet as silken, silver hair. Aeris yawned and knuckled the sleep from her eyes as night air filled her lungs. She lifted her head releasing the pillow to slip down the chair where she lay. It was a big, luxurious, red affair, more comfortable than most beds. Bemused but not frightened, the Cetra peered forward and out the window before her eyes. The central panels were open, explaining the breeze that brought the smell of smoke and damp stone. Lamps winked yellow near the ground below as she remembered from Midgar, but above stars swelled in light resplendent and tinged the sudden tears on her cheeks.

"Ah, you're awake now." A low voice called, and Aeris tilted her face back and up. His shadow fell over and she parted her lips, but her words had been stolen by awe. "You're quite a heavy sleeper," Sephiroth said, smiling slightly for her expression.

Aeris didn't know why the hot flush rose as he sat with grace on the cushioned ledge. In his hands were two steaming cups, which he set on the small table before.

"I know it was coffee you wanted," Sephiroth told her, "but I figured tea would be more apt. It's mid-evening and you'll want to sleep not much later tonight."

"How did you know?" Her shock lowered his eyes as Aeris sat swiftly up.

"I remembered your map…you'd drawn a cup of coffee. Well," he considered, "you drew a steaming cup, but wrote it was coffee you craved."

The flower girl didn't bother to hide her surprise as her hand curled on the worn handle. It was still quite hot so she took a small sip and recognized chamomile. Sephiroth drank full of his own before crossing his legs and leaning forward. "If you want," he said, "there's sugar and honey."

"No, thank you, but there's no need." She swallowed and set the teacup down looking up at her protector. _It should be odd to think of him in that way, but somehow it's really not._ His hair had been pulled at the forelocks again, spilling over his black leather coat.

"Wha..where…how did you know I was awake?" All of the questions fought for place, and that one was the winner.

"Your breathing changed as I heard you shift, and I smelled the salt of newly shed tears." He softened his voice and hid behind tea as Aeris slid a hand across her face. The moisture was dry now, but memory clung to the soft skin of her palm.

"Where are we?"

"The hotel in Kalm and the nicest of rooms. I thought you deserved that, little one." The breeze stirred the silver to stream past his face and he shook his head to tame it once more.

"How?" she spluttered suddenly cold, desperate now for her journey bag. Sephiroth saw and the pain on his face made the flower girl ashamed.

"It's right here, Aeris." He reached by her chair and lifted the satchel up. She clutched it to her fluttering heart, but wouldn't insult him by checking it now.

"H-How are you paying for this?"

"When we arrived it was late afternoon and the bank was still open."

"You…went to the bank?" she asked fully nonplussed. "But weren't you holding me in your arms?"

His smile held no joy as he set his cup down, nodding in confirmation. "Yes, but people see what I want them to see when I want them to see it."

"Except for me."

"Except for you. You're special, my little flower…" He looked at her in shock as the words slipped past, the possessive and sweet in one breath. Draining his cup, he turned to the night, and the stars above melted in emerald.

"You keep calling me that…" Aeris breathed so softly only he'd be able to hear. "It's such a sweet name."

"I'm only calling you what you are." If he looked at her now, the maid would be frightened by what now churned in his eyes. Sephiroth sighed and shut them for a moment as though to clear foolish dreams.

The Cetra clutched her hands and bit her lip before repeating the last asked question. "So you went to the bank and managed to convince them that it was truly you alive?" She couldn't help it, but covered the giggle imagining the iconic sight. "Wouldn't they be terrified to see you, the great general, paying them a call?"

"You're right, Aeris," he admitted bowing his head, "but I opened accounts in different names."

"Oh." She put a finger beneath her lip. "That's right. I forgot about that. And you can make it so people can't recognize you or see a small girl in your arms." He couldn't believe she looked so impressed, before her brow knitted again. "But you don't have ID for those names, do you, and wouldn't the accounts be frozen by now? How did you manage all that?"

"Well, I…" He picked up his teacup, but it was empty and the dregs were grim.

Aeris inhaled sharply. "Sephiroth! Don't tell me you used manipulation against those poor people there!"

Running long fingers through his silver locks, the former general stared over her head.

"…maybe a little."`

Aeris put her hands on her hips unable to stop glaring up. His whole body tensed as though she had struck him, and the Cetra caged her next words.

"You're right, little one," Sephiroth insisted. "But I did so because you needed to rest, and I'd be less than the filth I am right now if I dared take more from you. Even asking you to pay would've been abominable. I bear some semblance of a man though a monster lives within."

"You're not a monster," she said right away.

"And you're far too kind to me." He lifted his eyes to her forgiving face, and emerald pulsed in gratitude.

"Well," Aeris sighed laying hands to her lap, "you were only accessing your own gil. It's not like you were stealing from them."

Sephiroth nodded, but only to acknowledge and not to let go of the guilt. "So long as you're with me, Aeris, you'll never want nor have need to spend a gil of your own."

"So you rented this room?" She laid a hand to her stomach as it suddenly voiced it was bare.

"Yes, and I thought of that little need, too." He nodded to the inner wall where a table lay buried in platters. "I didn't know what you would want, so I just bought it all."

The flower girl untangled herself from her coat and stumbled to her feet. Away from the window's attendant night air, the savory had no place to hide. There had to be at least thirty dishes vying for space on the table. Lifting one of the covers, Aeris revealed chicken coated in heavy cream. Another was steak, while two more were salad, and at least four that were still steaming soups. There were even a couple that held desserts and her mouth watered at such indulgence. All these ingredients would never be found in the gloom of the bitter slums. The flower girl whirled and he was right there. She gave a jump with a little, "Oh!" Sephiroth backed away with his hands raised before and an apology at the gate of his lips.

"No, no, it's fine…" Aeris insisted, surprising him by stepping near. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she looked up, and that paused the once general's retreat. "Where are your epaulets?" She suddenly noticed. "Did something happen while I slept?"

Sephiroth glanced from shoulder to shoulder. "I just removed them, Aeris."

She sealed the distance, standing on her toes as she leaned on him to reach up. It took all his will to clasp hands behind, but it was harder to hide the shock.

"You're so tall," the little Cetra said and he fell instantly to his knees. "Wh-What are you doing? You shouldn't to me…" She shook her head as he bowed his so low. Sighing, Aeris laid hands to broad shoulders unhindered by any steel. She shut her eyes sliding across black leather, smile growing the further she went. "You're so much bigger and stronger than me…" she mused, pressing palms into what could be marble.

"That doesn't make me better, little flower." The low voice thrummed so close to her ear and for a moment she forgot how to stand. It was the briefest of falters, but his arms full encased her as emerald was shaded by pale. "It was this strength that killed you…how can you bear my touch?"

Aeris slipped her arms round his neck and her sigh of joy pierced his heart. "It's this strength that protects me now. But for you I'd be trapped in the slums…" She shuddered and he held her closer.

"You're the most genuine person I've ever met, Aeris. You have no ounce of deceit."

"Why would I ever want to deceive you?"

"That's just what I mean, little one. You say what you think with no selfish motive, and your words are both sweet and kind. You're a truly innocent soul, and I'm blessed to be allowed to protect you."

Aeris pulled back and slid from his face a renegade moonlit lock. Her bangs brushed his cheeks and he wanted to unbind them and have chestnut waves wash his skin. As if the thought echoed the distance, Aeris unbound the tie at his crown. He shook his head as the silver strands spilled, lowering his lids as they caught in his lashes. The flower girl leaned her forehead to his, and Sephiroth raised a hand to her cheek. She wanted to tell him that he was beautiful, the loveliest thing she'd ever seen. Not even her dreams could match this glory, but she would sound so stupid. _He had a fan club, _she remembered, _why would he care what a slum girl thinks? He'd be polite, because he feels indebted, but he knows he's beautiful beyond compare._

She leaned back with her hands on his shoulders, and said suddenly, "I have to know…" And so his hair slid through gliding fingers like endless liquid silk. Sephiroth's eyes remained softly closed. Only that was keeping him still. If he saw her, if he looked now, he knew what would transpire. _I would kiss her until all our tomorrows had turned to ageless dust. _Then the image of her revulsion flayed him for having so foolish a thought. _How dare you? She lets you protect her. She even lets you touch her. You're not even worthy to breathe the same air and yet you want more than this? She is purity incarnate suffering a monster so that she can find someplace safe. You have no other use. Even your true mother wanted no part of you…_

"Oh dear gods…" she whispered with hands bathed in light. "It doesn't tangle. It _never _tangles, not even the longest strands."

"No, little one, it doesn't. It also will not break."

"What do you mean?" Just her little voice brought a smile to his face. The genuine curiosity without malice seen even through his sealed lids.

"Try to pull just one strand out and you'll see what I mean."

"Oh Sephiroth, no!" she exclaimed. "I'm not going to rip out your hair. It's…" Even without sight he knew her lower lip was worried between her teeth. "It's far too lovely, a-and wouldn't that hurt you?"

"Just attempt it, little one. You're not going to hurt me." He wasn't trying to command, but Aeris sighed and caught a strand between her fingers. Tugging first lightly then harder in shock as it remained firm in his scalp.

"Wha…I don't understand-"

"Yes," he said softly and took her hand in the heat of his. Aeris halved her lids as his thumb brushed over her palm. With his own eyes shut he looked purely angelic.

"How is that possible? Why didn't it break? You don't even have split ends!" She huffed as his hand curled gently round hers.

"They wanted me to not only be perfect, but look the part as well."

He lowered his head and she caught his brow on hers as he shut his eyes even harder

"Sephiroth, what is it?"

"Just…another memory."

"Will you tell me please?"

_How can I deny you, little flower? _he thought. _You'll give me pity I don't deserve…_

"All of my senses are enhanced, Aeris, including my sense of pain. They wanted me to feel it more deeply so that I could be trained to endure."

The whimper lived soft in the back of her throat, but the once general still heard it. He shook his head and smiled for her innocent sake alone.

"It's alright, little one. It's why when caged, that torture meant nothing to me. But when I was a boy, it was…more than terrible, and they used this to their advantage. I…did something. I don't remember what, but I was a very willful child. I'd already been starved and beaten that week so something new had to be devised. This hair…" He flicked a few strands forth, and they licked up Aeris's arms. "It was long even then, halfway down my back, and just as strong as it is now. So they tied a rope around the strands…and hung me from the ceiling."

"Sephiroth…" she sobbed, and her cheek brushed his, wetting alabaster with her tears. The soft limbs were around his neck again, and he didn't know why he kept speaking.

"I screamed until my lungs were empty and my voice was gone. You couldn't break even one hair, Aeris. All of them together could support my weight. The more I struggled the more it hurt, til I thought my scalp would rip off. But they'd given me something, a pair of sharp scissors, and the choice between pain and vanity…"

"Sephiroth…please, open your eyes. There's something I need you to see." She leaned back as he slowly did, and his pupils split emerald light.

Before him the sorrow had colored her cheeks, but her lips had him parting his own. They were so red, they should've bled roses, and it took every ounce of will he had not to taste her tears.

"I will always weep you for when you tell me things like this. I wanted you to know that…I wanted you to see it." She threaded their fingers together as Sephiroth looked at her for long moments before rising again to his feet. She followed him up, tilting back her head when her eyes could lift no more.

He sighed held in eternal summer. "You should eat, little one. It's been a long day for you, and you only broke your fast this morning."

"And what about you?" she instantly asked cast in the shadow of his height. His hands were still curled around her waist, and his hair tumbled in moonlit cascade.

"I already had a little," he told her, releasing the Cetra from his grip. She threw him quite a skeptical glance before picking a platter to lift. Aeris peeked at another, took a taste here, a sample there, and sniffed at some of the odder ones.

"You didn't even have breakfast this morning," she reminded him, licking a crumb from her finger.

"That's true." He nodded. "But I told you before I don't really need to eat. The cells of the corruption will keep me alive."

"But you also told me you feel hunger pangs."

"Not really so much anymore." He shrugged as she took a spoonful of soup. "I was starved for more than punishment, Aeris. It was another pain I was meant to endure."

She shuddered, turning her eyes up sadly to his passive, unmoving face. "Well, you don't have to stand to attention for me." And she patted the seat beside.

The former general's lips turned up at the corner, but in an instant he was by her side.

"I can't even imagine what they must've thought when you placed this order." She was cutting into one of the chicken dishes, this one crusted with red, flaky bread.

"They really didn't question much once they knew I had means to pay."

"I suppose," she conceded taking a bite and immediately sticking out her tongue. "Ugh, too spicy."

"Here, try this." He slid over a platter. "It's some sort of bluefish, very delicate and light." She took a taste and smiled serenely, shutting her eyes to savor. Sephiroth found swift distraction in pouring two more cups of tea.

"Here, have some." It was so tender she was able to slice it with fork alone.

"I already did, little one."

"Then have some more." Her infectious smile beamed up at him as she held the utensil aloft. He couldn't resist and wondered at his will falling before this one small woman. Aeris coated her thoughts in pinkest blush while her eyes traced the shape of his lips. She put the fork down and clutched at her tea, which though lukewarm was still just as good. To occupy her other hand she lifted the next cover, catching her breath at all the desserts.

"Oh dear gods, are those strawberries?!" she exclaimed, plucking one for a bite.

"How long has it been since you've seen one of those?"

"I can't even remember." The juice stained her hands, deepened her lips, and his gaze remembered blood. "Anything like this was near impossible to come by in the slums. I think it's why so many people were sick…" She sniffed suddenly forlorn. Sephiroth took her free hand and her smile returned at the moment of touch. Confusion at that nearly had him blinking, so he picked up the fork instead. Scooping up a bit of lemon pie, he offered it to her. He expected the Cetra to take the fork, but she did as he had, and her face made Mako blaze in brilliant jade.

"I was never allowed anything sweet," he admitted setting the utensil down. A crumb was nestled near the edge of her mouth, and he wanted to kiss it away.

"Everyone deserves something sweet now and then," she replied brushing the morsel away.

_Everyone human, _Sephiroth thought, using this rue to keep himself still.

Aeris wanted to close her eyes and just bask in his scent forever. The moonlight curtain had tumbled over, tickling her face to spill over her thighs. Her imagination whirled and within it his hand reached over to lift her chin. Those half-veiled eyes would burn lashes in emerald and right through her then shut lids.

The flower girl jolted and lurched to her feet to scan the room for her boots. They were by the window and she half flung herself onto the ledge to pull them on.

"Aeris?" the low voice called in deep worry, and she had to look up for that note. Her protector had stood the moment she did, desperately holding the blank on his face. "I'm so sorry if I frightened you, little flower. Please don't run away."

The shock of that steadied her fingers so that she could lace her boots, and she rose when done and went back to him, so saddened by his grief.

"No, Sephiroth." She reached for his hands. "I'm not frightened of you at all." She bit her lip and looked the far way up as even behind his mask she saw relief. "I've been under the plate for far too long, and then today I fell asleep in the sun. I just need to see the sky and stars, and preferably not through a window." She didn't lie about that, which made her happy for she could never tell him the full truth.

Sephiroth made sure he had the room's key before closing the door behind. The rose patterned carpet, old but clean, brought a half-smile to remember her flowers. Aeris grabbed his hand and led the once general down the dim, quiet hall. Most of the rooms were empty. Kalm really wasn't a tourist town, and although there was an elevator, Aeris took the stairs. The lobby was deserted, but cheerful still, the desk clerk smiling as they passed.

No one met them in the streets, though Sephiroth could hear nightly murmurings. People were still awake in the town, but there was no vigilance, only peace. _She could be safe here, _he thought as they descended the stairs to a courtyard. _But this is too close to that city of death and besides, she yearns for the sea. _

Aeris slipped her hand from his and her smile nearly rivaled those stars. Looking up, she spread her arms to spin in the embrace of the night. _Oh dear friend, _she thought in thankfulness, _how I've missed this so. _Above her rained down in far flung myriads the light from distance untold. It was surely stardust that had fallen on her cheeks, but when she touched her face it was wet. She found Sephiroth attempting to fade in the night and dim himself in the background, but though no moon attended the heavenly court, he was still nothing but brilliant. The clear sky above ignited his skin and hair so they gleamed palely burning, but the light from his eyes almost shamed this white fire, a sea that swirled deep to forever.

If he was surprised when she retook his hand, the former general quelled that emotion. She led him forward where eternity coalesced and pointed up so his gaze would follow. But he knew too well what that sky could contain and had no interest in paradise lost. As if this was their purpose, his arms slipped around so he held the little maid from behind. She lowered her hands and laid her head to the side against the leather of his coat. She looked so happy it made his heart hurt, and he could only assume it was because she was free.

_You touch her as though you had such a right, you monstrous get of the darkness. _Around her middle, he clenched his fingers, as Aeris sighed to re-open her eyes. The great star in the north was unwavering bright, and she saddened remembering his quest. Her little hands fell atop of his, and she threaded her fingers into his warmth. Sephiroth was forced to soften his grip, but this did nothing to silence the guilt. _She lets you protect her. She even suffers your touch. You're unworthy of less than this. How could she ever be for you after all you've done?_

"Sephiroth?" She tilted her head to look at him, and her happiness as he filled her eyes was even greater than the pull of the stars.

"Yes, little flower."

"Why are you looking at me and not the stars?" She almost yawned to the musing tone, and Sephiroth fought his panic.

"I-" He waited for her desperate struggles to escape his filthy embrace, but the flower girl merely tilted her head, and from the angle it was more than endearing. "The stars sit in judgment, little one, and they don't forgive us. They don't… forgive me." He closed his eyes as she rubbed her palm on the back of his hand. "Why don't you hate me, Aeris?" She blinked up and even in the dark, his pupils were shiver thin. "What I did to you was-"

"In the past, and it can't be changed. Hate corrodes the container it's carried in." Her voice softened. "You know that better than most. I always knew what my life was for, and I knew how it would end. Everything that's happened has led us to this moment. Everything we've suffered has brought us to now. I wouldn't change a minute of the past to lose an instant of this."

"You're the strongest person I've ever met." His voice was hoarse as he squeezed her gently, and her soft laughter warmed his heart.

"And you say that while I'm completely held in your powerful arms."

"There's a strength in forgiveness, my little flower, that hate can never match."

"But you're free of that hate now, Sephiroth," she said, trying to share her hope.

"Yes, Aeris, that horror is gone, but grief is now my due." Lifting her face to him looking down, Aeris was caught in a wash of light. The glow pulsed around shiver slim pupils, which didn't change in size.

"They don't dilate, do they? At least not much. My cats had larger eyes in the dim." Remembering them brought back a sharp pang for she fear of how well they now fared.

He tightened his arms ever so slightly in answer to her grief. "The purpose of dilation is to let in more light. I have no need of that." Aeris shut her own to the low vibration of his words against her back.

"Can you…control how much light they give off?"

"To a point I can." His lashes laid shadow against his skin as the glow lit a gentle smile. "They're less incandescent when it's bright, but there's ever and always a gleam."

Aeris reached up to brush his cheek and those fronds swept over her skin. "I prayed for you to come, you know," she murmured so soft it was still half a thought.

Sephiroth shook the hair from his face, incredulously staring down. "You…prayed for _me?_"

"Well," she admitted, "not exactly like that, but I prayed to not be alone." She looked down in regret. "It was very selfish. I should've concentrated my efforts on the people of Midgar."

He lifted her chin back up to his light. "I think just once you can afford to be selfish. I'm sorry I'm what you received. That seems a poisoned gift."

"No," she insisted, "not poisoned at all! You were exactly what I needed…" The edges of summer were moist with dew and Sephiroth thought his heart would tear. For in that moment he blessed the light that poured out of his eyes. To be able to see that beautiful smile made it worth it to be a monster.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you, Aeris, and I'll never hurt you again."

"I know you won't," she said to calm desperation. "You needn't look so grieved."

"I wasn't made to be happy."

"So must you forever be sad? If they didn't 'make' you to be happy, then you should do everything to prove them wrong."

He lifted a brow and she grinned in triumph. "So you're saying I should be happy out of spite?"

"I'm saying you should be happy because you deserve it."

"No." He forced his eyes away. "I deserve nothing but pain."

The breeze chilled her skin and stole her next words, as he covered her arms with his own. She'd forgotten her coat in the dual desire to see the stars and escape her thoughts.

"It's growing chill," Sephiroth murmured, "and little flowers weren't meant for the cold."

She glanced up and he saw his sad words in her eyes, but they were lost in a gasp as he scooped her up.

"Ah, Sephiroth, you don't have to! I can walk, you know."

He had already taken several strides, but stopped dead at her words. "It's a joy to me, Aeris," he admitted, "to hold you in my arms, but if you don't want me to tou-"

"No, no," she said quickly as he shielded his face behind the flawless mask. "It's...a 'joy to me,' too." She tittered a little at the odd turn of phrase as he tilted his head to her mirth.

"What amuses you so much, little one?" And she giggled again as he took the stairs two at a time.

"It's just the way you say some things." She smiled, but the expression was not meant to mock. "Like most people would just ask 'What's so funny?' but the way you talk it's so-"

"Formal?" He shifted her to just one arm as he opened the door to the inn.

"Mmm, maybe?" she allowed, half-shutting her eyes as lobby light broke the darkness. "It's more than that I think. It's definitely formal and very polite, but something else makes it unique. It's nice though. I like it a lot. I…like the way you speak."

She hid her face in his collar that took the blush as Sephiroth smiled again at her candor. In the room he set Aeris down and they noticed all of the platters were gone.

"It was kind of a waste, wasn't it?" she asked biting her lip with some guilt.

"If it was, Aeris, then it was my fault. You can hold no blame for that act."

While she showered he stood by the window, letting the breeze try to tangle his hair. The bright northern star filled his eyes with its shine and bowed his head to the pain in his heart. He wanted to pray, but had no right to speak to the Planet or shades of the dead. Aeris emerged not long after those thoughts were threatening to drag him down. She softened her step to tiptoe, and Sephiroth smiled even in the wake of his rue. Hands clasped behind until the last moment, he whirled swiftly to pick her up. One arm round her waist was all he did need to lift the little Cetra high, and Aeris rested her palms on his shoulders, face to face with grief's residue.

"I suppose it would be near impossible to surprise someone who can hear my very breath."

The smile lifted only a corner of his mouth as half-veiled eyes hid his scrutiny. She was wearing her nightgown from the evening before, but her hair was spilling and free. It washed his hand in chestnut waves, as he clenched the other to fist.

"I see you found the hairdryer," he said, "I made use of that before you awoke."

"It's quite a luxury, yes," she sighed, "and I don't want to sleep with soaking hair."

"Nor should you, little one." He carried her to the bed. "The last thing I'd want is for you to fall ill. You have suffered enough."

He saw it, but could barely believe, her lips pressed soft to his brow. Emerald shut fully as he dared not breathe and cut this moment short. Aeris let silver locks sweep her cheeks before she pulled back again.

"What was that for, little flower? How can you bless me so?"

She flung her arms around his neck as he encased her in his."That was for protecting me. For carrying me out of squalor and bringing me into the light. For making me feel not so alone. For being my friend…"

He pulled back to see her face and show the bewilderment on his own. "You consider me… a friend?"

"I think," she said casting gaze to the side as she slowly traced his shoulders, "I think I might consider you more…"

Sephiroth set her down on the large, waiting bed before sweeping across the room. The night through the window would be his companion as he sat before it on the red chair. Snapping his fingers, he silenced all light but his own as he heard her voice.

"Sephiroth?" He looked around to her clutching the covers close. "Will you please get me my travel bag?"

"Of course, little one." It was by his seat and he walked over to place it in her hand. Aeris flipped on the light by the bed and retrieved a book from within, but before she could open she covered a yawn, and the wall he'd built crumbled to dust.

"Do you want me to read to you, Aeris?" he asked so softly by her side.

"You'd do that?" Her face brightened and Mako light brought a flush to her cheeks.

"There's nothing you can ask that I'd ever deny." Pulling the chair to the edge of the bed, he let the volume fell open upon his crossed legs where it broke along its binding. Aeris grabbed the pillows and plopped down on them near where he was smoothing the sheet. When he began to speak, she shut her eyes and couldn't help but smile. His voice so low could make even things terrible sound like they were spun with gold.

"_Let us go then, you and I,_

_When the evening is spread out against the sky_

_Like a patient etherized upon a table;_

_Let us go…"_

* * *

_Author's (second) Note: __The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot is used again here, so I must include a source link and disclaimer for it. Must I say it? Oh, very well. I do not own any rights to the fore mentioned poem. They all belong to T.S. Eliot and his estate. Chapter 8 **In Between **will be posted next Friday **May 15. **__I cannot thank you enough for all of your likes, comments, and support!_


	8. In Between

"**Hush child, the darkness will rise from the deep,**

**And carry you down into sleep…"**

**-Heather Dale "Mordred's Lullaby**

**Chapter 8**

**In Between**

He didn't mean to sleep. He never did. Sleep is darkness rising. Perhaps it was the sight of her peaceful slumber that allowed him shut his eyes, but what waited behind howled with the horror that he would dare show his face. _They _came…everyone he'd ever wronged, the entire world and those long dead who cried out for justice. Blood coated his fingers, never to be cleaned, and _hers _clung the hardest of all. He would drown in the blood of the innocent and yet still never die. It would fill his lungs, inundating each vessel as the cells within screamed to the flood. Her forgiveness meant nothing as she died on that altar in a city forgotten by time.

Pre-dawn warmed the wind as it stirred the curtains and strived to lift silver hair. His head was flung against the back of the chair, and his teeth cut his breath so it hissed. The blood was receding but left always its stain in the recesses of his mind, when a noise so near split his lids as bisected green shifted down. Upon his lap with her head on his chest was nestled one tiny flower, and his arms were wrapped around her as if this were the most natural of things. _This can't be a dream. Those are all nightmares, but it certainly can't be true. _But her smile was as real as the Mako light, and summer blessed him with open eyes.

Aeris yawned and curled her hands on his skin. "I was having such a lovely dream…" His high belt hovered just below, and she traced the insignia there.

"All your dreams should be lovely…" Sephiroth barely whispered as if she were a bird and would fly.

"So should yours," Aeris told him, "but I know they're not. You were having some terrible nightmare."

"That's just the way it is, little flower. It's why I rarely sleep. Also I can see the blood in my lids and that spurs the horrors on."

She shivered at that and he tightened his arms, regretful that she should worry.

"I know…you were thrashing quite wildly, but you stubbornly refused to cry out. I had to do something and somehow managed to catch a hold of your hand."

A sharp inhale flared his nostrils. "Aeris…I could've hurt you. You should've just let me writhe."

"No." It was full adamant as the Cetra lifted her gaze. "No one deserves to suffer like that. I won't have it so, and besides…the moment my skin met yours you were instantly stilled." A smile played out on her pink lips and his parted in utter awe. He couldn't resist lifting her chin so her hair shivered over his arm.

Aeris's heart could've outpaced a train the moment his thumb brushed her cheek. Silver hair tumbled like a caress along the edge of her throat. It was so shining she could've believed it gave off its own softer glow. Half-veiled lids spilled light and lash against alabaster skin, and she could only wet her lips as the dust motes spun in the sun.

_Two days ago, _he thought,_ I was chained in darkness with nothing to wait for but pain. Now the little maid I brutally killed is wrapped in my arms on my lap. Even bathed in unholy light she's beautiful beyond all reason. Oh, little flower, what I want now is more insane than godhood and doom. _"Aeris," he whispered, "what…is it?"

"Your beauty," the words caught the end of her breath. "It's…indescribable."  
"_You_ think _I'm_ beautiful?" A silver brow arched, which did nothing to disprove the claim.

"I don't _think _anything." She laid her hand atop of his as it completely covered her cheek. "You are. It's a simple truth set in stone like salt deeply stains the sea."

His palm slid down to the side of her throat, and Aeris had to bite her tongue.

"Stone can weather," Sephiroth said sadly, "and salt can always be purged."

"Your beauty never will," she whispered. "It's beyond even stone or sea."

She saw winter skin and silver hair framing a face made for an angel, but the once general knew the truth. He looked like a ghost that was haunted by rue bleeding light from his Mako green eyes. He'd never combine that and think, _Here is beauty, _and memory poisoned the vanity he'd had, but to Aeris's eyes he was more than glory, and she could barely breathe through her awe.

Sephiroth bowed his head and shut his eyes fully. He could never be what she believed. He would've told her this, but she stole the cruel words from his lips with her own. Utter shock shivered beneath his skin as he kept his slivered eyes closed. The world was turned and this gift he'd been given belonged to some righteous other, but it was his for now and it would be neither wasted nor untasted. The once general wrapped the Cetra full in his embrace when she parted her lips against his. Tilting back her head he claimed her soft mouth, which was cool and sweet as her lilies. Sephiroth seared kisses down her chin and throat stopping short of the nightgown's collar. Then he again split her lips with his tongue and the strength in it made Aeris quake.

He tasted like vanilla tea with heat enough for a dragon's belly. The hand in her hair crept to her cheek, and his fingers fanned slowly open. Tracing her mouth with the tip of his tongue, he pressed his teeth to her bottom lip. Aeris gasped and he smiled so slowly to let the dance begin anew. Sephiroth kissed her as though he drank deeply of life and her mouth held the last sip of air. Slowly at times to savor the sweet and then harder to name it his own. Her own hand slipped through that silver washed mane as the other called palm to palm, and he threaded their fingers together so gently to offset the force of the kiss. Everything in the rhythm said only one thing. _You belong to me. _She couldn't help but squirm upon his lap, the Planet singing joy in her ears. The former general swept her up as he stood with their tongues still entwined, and when he laid the flower maid on the bed, her hands tumbled onto her fanned hair. Running parted lips over hers, Sephiroth pulled back to see Aeris's face. Her skin was flushed to rival new rubies and her heart could've woken the deaf.

He kissed her neck where the flesh pulsed warm, but couldn't resist what arose from her lips. The buttons of her gown would be easy to conquer. The back of his hand brushing down, but he stopped himself to rest brow to brow against her moistened skin.

"Oh Aeris…" he said in blindness, shielding her from corruption in light. "Do you know how much I yearned for this? How I wanted you in my arms? But I don't deserve to touch you or even hold you in my sight."

She was weak with the taste of vanilla and the imprint of his palms. Lying on the bed looking up at him as he caged her between his hands. It took every ounce of concentration to slide a hand to his cheek.

"You deserve to touch me, Sephiroth, because I say you do." She had to shut her eyes and just breathe for long moments as he laid his lips to her cheeks. Brushing them over her temples to take the slow tears from green eyes. "If I didn't want you to, well…I couldn't stop you, but you be can certain that I'd fight."

"I would never hurt you, Aeris." He retreated in shame, but the little Cetra grabbed his hand.

"And that's why you deserve this, because I know you won't." She sat up trembling with no ounce of fear, but Sephiroth was still concerned. Sitting up beside, he wrapped an arm around and pushed chestnut waves from her face. His eyes were still closed as it ran through his fingers like summer grass hushed by the wind.

"Sephiroth?" she asked and her voice called a smile. "Sephiroth, please open your eyes."

"Not after this, Aeris…you shouldn't have horror to spoil what I hope was sweet."

"They're not horrible to me. Please?"

He breathed a sigh but kept his smile. There was no resisting her pleas. The long lashes lifted, and he gazed down to the most beautiful face ever seen.

Aeris's head was slightly tilted as she leaned against his chest. "I don't know how they did it…"

"How they did what?"

"How they made your eyes so green…it's like an emerald sea without stars."

He halved his lids, but his fingers kept running through her unbound hair.

"As they made everything about me, little one. Just an arrangement of-"

"Genes and cells?" She couldn't help it and started to giggle as he raised a silver brow. That made it worse and Aeris hid her face til he lifted her chin and stole the mirth from her lips. Sephiroth ran a finger so slow down her throat, releasing the moan that waited there, and against her lips he found his own laughter, a low chuckle that said it all. Pulling back with another soft bite on full red, he kissed her brow before raising his head. The once general shook fallen silver away where it swam against her skin as it flew.

"No one…" she whispered, "has _ever _kissed me like that before. I didn't think such power was possible." The flower girl slipped a finger along a white buckle where it contrasted leather black.

Sephiroth tilted his head and looked down at her with a crooked grin. "So you'd compare me to your past lovers?" And Aeris lifted her gaze to his face. Summer green trembled like leaves tossed in gale, and she couldn't bite her lip for its soreness.

"I really wouldn't call them 'lovers,' but you know I dated Zack…"

The past shrieked to destroy this moment so he held his gaze to her face, while Aeris turned to yesterday without any fear so that she could follow her musings.

"Ah that poor boy…he was so awkward and adorable just like-"

"A puppy." They both said it and the laughter was shared as he leaned his head down to hers. Sephiroth kept his eyes open so green called to green and she drank the light from his in.

"None of the others had eyes like that."

"None of the others were monsters."

"You're not a monster, Sephiroth. How many times must I tell you that?"

"Maybe just once more, Aeris. Maybe this time I'll believe…"

He kissed her again to take the blesséd words as they poured out her lips. Clutching her hands, he rubbed the soft skin so careful for fragile bones.

"You're so gentle." He raised a brow. "Well you are to me."

Sephiroth pressed his forehead against hers again so silver streamed over her face. "I can't be anything but that with you, Aeris. You deserve no less." He peered down at their joined hands, and held one of hers up to his eyes. "You spent your days giving life to lilies, and yet your skin's so soft."

"Well," she considered, "lilies don't have thorns. The Planet saved those for the roses."

He sat up and pushed the hair from his vision so it tumbled over his black coat. Aeris caught a lock to twirl in her fingers as her other hand remained warmed by his.

"I think," he said, "it kept you unimposing in order to hide your true power. How did you manage that, little flower?" He tilted her chin, half-lidded eyes still burning. "Those three weaklings I killed could've broken you. How did you keep yourself safe?"

"I learned how to survive." Her voice followed her face to lift even and ever higher. Staring into endless green was like falling through doorways of light. "Do you…" She peered askance. "Do you think I'm helpless?"

"No, not at all." He shook his head to the shiver of silver around. "There are far greater powers than physical strength, and you have them all."

"Like what?"

"Like innocence for one."

"Innocence isn't power…"

"It is if you're praying for light."

"It didn't help me much in the depths of the slums."

"But the Planet guided you there." His thumb had begun to trace her lips, and Aeris tried to remain coherent.

"Yes…I was very lucky. I-I actually think it led me to you. I would never have run down into that place, especially not without any protection."

He tilted his head and cupped her chin as the flower maid tempered her breath.

"I…used to carry a staff back…before, but I didn't have it when I woke in my church."

"Why didn't you purchase another one?"

"The only weapon shop was in Sector 2…"

"Did you wish to buy one here in Kalm?"

The Cetra opened eyes she didn't know were shut and rubbed the back of her neck. Sephiroth instantly released her saying, "I'm sorry, my little flower." He bowed his head, as Aeris laid hers against his coat.

"It's alright," she assured. "I like looking up at you, but you are really tall. I know it's just an arrangement of 'genes and cells.'" She grinned to his astonishment. "But that doesn't mean it's worth any less." Aeris sighed as Sephiroth leaned forward to kiss her on the crown. "And to answer your question, no I don't. I know that you'll protect me."

Slanting her mouth up to his, she let vanilla spill over her tongue. Then almost shyly Aeris bit his lip and laughter mellowed so low. "You won't make me bleed, my little flower. You need not be so careful." She smiled up at beauty so shining and pure as the morning light made him a halo.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, pulling back. "Oh, I've missed the sunrise!" The Cetra scrambled over the bed and ran to the open window. Sephiroth gazed down to the vacated space before approaching her from behind. Aeris's gaze darted out the bay window, her hands clasped to her chest, and the once general remembered his life was for grief as he witnessed the flower girl's pose.

"I'm so sorry, Aeris," he whispered the words laying palms to her small shoulders. "How long have you waited for dawn…"

The daylight streaming awoke amber and honey in waving chestnut hair, and the wind came to play so gently with strands it was like the touch of his fingers. She looked over her shoulder and up at him, morning painted upon her cheeks.

"Well…to be fair, I kissed you first. You just proved you could do it better." She placed her palm over one of his hands, and that cut through a layer of grief.

"Even your true smile holds such sorrow," she murmured as he looked away. It was impossible to hide from the soft, summer gaze that always saw the truth.

"I can't help it when I look at you," he replied with jaded eyes piercing the morn. "I want to not always see what I did, but I don't deserve to forget." The flagstones below where the stars had held court were now host to swift, passing feet. "You don't want to stay in Kalm, do you, Aeris?"

"No." Her voice was musing soft. It gentled the negation. "I want the sea and besides there's a reactor here…"

He only had to sniff but once before confirming, "Yes."

"I thought this was a mining town…"

"It is. They mine mythril here and have for a very long time." Sephiroth lowered his eyes then to a past she couldn't see. He remembered the serpent that had guarded the swamp since he had killed it himself. Impaled on a tree for blocking his way…his hand lowered to Aeris's stomach.

She pressed her palm to his warm skin, as she searched the brightened expanse. It looked like forever to sight that had witnessed only darkness and shade for so long.

"I want to find a city that doesn't rape the Planet in order to survive." The flower girl tilted back her head to see him looking down. His face was so calm she could almost forget it had once held madness and rage. "Do you…think that such a place actually exists?"

Directness would've led him to, "No," but he was not the general now. Still Aeris saw it in his eyes and gave a little sigh.

"You should have breakfast," Sephiroth decided. "Do you wish to order or go downstairs?"

"Oh, can we order?" Aeris asked, facing him with her hands still clasped. He kept his expression purely blank for the damning past stood right before. Without hesitation she took his hand and raised it for a kiss, and the mask fell away the instant her soft lips brushed against winter skin.

"You would kiss the very hand that shed your blood…if only the world were half so forgiving."

Aeris turned his hand over to scrutinize the lines. "I don't see any blood on you now."

"It'll always be there, little flower. Nothing can wash it clean."

"Forgiveness can." She looked up at him and shut her eyes as his other hand stroked her cheek. Aeris caught it for another kiss before he slipped from her grasp in full pain.

"We can order if you wish." He was sitting on the bed perusing the menu from last night. The flower maid followed and jumped up beside to scan the choices there.

"You won't have to buy thirty dishes this time because you don't know what I want." She merrily tittered and Sephiroth glanced away, letting long hair shield his face.

"Oh dear gods…" Aeris gasped. "A-Are you ashamed of that? Did I make the great general blush?" She couldn't help laughing. It was too incongruent, but when he touched her hand all mirth ceased. "Why do you hate that title so much? You were a hero then."

He shook his head. "I was never a hero. That's just how they justify war. The memories of how I became what you name are bathed in endless blood, and afterwards what I was revealed to be-"

"Is nothing like who you are now." The Cetra smiled and leaned on his side, bathed in that silver light scent. "You always call me 'little flower,' and it sounds so sweet. I should have a name for you. I mean it's only fair."

The smallest of smiles touched Sephiroth's lips as he let their fingers meet. "I see why the Planet chose you, little one. You're completely without guile."

It's was Aeris's turn to look down now, as her shoulders squeezed even smaller. "I'm not a very good daughter at all. I'm running from what I should do."

He lifted her chin and his light tinged the morning to paint softly on her face. "You told me you had no knowledge of your task. Maybe you were supposed to leave Midgar to find out what it is."

"Maybe…" she said and he kissed her brow, which couldn't help but bring back her smile.

"You can call me whatever you wish to, Aeris, if that will make you happy." _I only have one title now and that will ever be 'monster.' No matter what sweet name you invent, that's what I'll always be…_

"I'll try to think of something good," she promised as he picked up the phone.

After the order was placed, she climbed back on his lap, much to Sephiroth's still surprise. But his arms already knew what they should do and enclosed her in their warmth.

"You know, I've never felt this safe…" He snapped his gaze down at those words.

"You can't mean that, Aeris."

"You know I do," she insisted. "Who better to protect me than you? Who could ever hurt me here held close in your arms?"

Sephiroth's brow knitted together as Aeris twisted a moonlight lock. "No…" he considered, "I suppose you're right. I would be your greatest threat."

"And you're not a threat at all."

"But I'm still your murderer."

She pulled herself closer to the growing shock he couldn't hide. "No, you're not. You're my friend, and none of my friends are murderers." The silver buckles cooled one cheek as his hair caressed the other. He looked down at the Cetra, shaking his head so silver swam against her skin.

"The only use I have in this world is being your protector."

"That's not true at all, Sephiroth," she insisted. He chose not to argue and instead take the kiss as sweet flowers spread over his lips. Aeris laid her head against his chest and curled her fingers there. She closed her eyes to a beat that thrummed so steady, but something in it made her frown.

"Oh Sephiroth," she whispered jolting up, "your poor heart is broken!"

"I greatly doubt that, little flower. It's as strong as eugenics can make." He stroked her hair from crown to waist, smiling gently at her worry.

"No, Sephiroth, can't you tell? It's broken just like you."

He froze, his hand at the place on her back that did not hold a wound. Briefly, he turned his awareness within and even swifter shut his mind to the truth.

"Aeris, no…don't you dare. Don't you dare weep for that."

But it was too late. She'd soaked her soft palms in the pain of a myriad tears. "I can't help it. Oh, it's too sad. You're a broken angel…"

A knock on the door saved the so-named and he lifted her from his lap. The little Cetra did not hear what transpired, but assumed it was their breakfast. Careful hands wrapped around her wrists to reveal her face to emerald bright. He was kneeling before her on the floor with a tissue in his grasp.

"I envy you, little one…" Sephiroth whispered.

"Why?" she quelled the sob in her throat.

"It would be easier for me to bleed than to weep. Any tears I once had turned to ash."

"That's what tears are, didn't you know…blood from a rendered soul."

"I suppose I have no soul left to rend."

"You know that isn't true." She slammed her fist down on her thigh, as Sephiroth cleaned her face.

"Come, little flower," he said as he stood, offering her a hand. "You should break your fast so you have energy for your stubbornness."

Aeris glared, but she still clutched his fingers while sliding off the bed. She was glad there were not thirty platters this time, but lifting a lid made her think of the cats. Had they wandered in waiting through the dead garden of her cold, empty house? Aeris bit into toast and the sweet, buttered bread brought her back to yellow lights. The urchins sleeping in the slums, only ignorance granting them peace. They'd not yet seen the cruelest things the dark world had to offer, and the flower girl swirled the grease from the eggs to spoil luxury with regret.

"What it is, Aeris?" Sephiroth's voice made her jump, which lowered the once proud head.

"It's…nothing really. Well nothing you can do and nothing I can do either."

His glowing eyes narrowed in scrutiny and the flower girl heaved a sigh.

"I was just remembering everyone in the slums. The Planet sent me to help them, but I'm sitting in the sun eating delicacies that none of them could even dream." She threw down the bread as anger coursed inward followed swiftly by defeat. Sephiroth turned and took both her hands, his head titled to the side.

"Would it help them if you starved?" he asked and the flower girl lifted her gaze. His expression was mild with half shaded eyes, which did nothing for intensity.

"No…I suppose it wouldn't."

"And would it help them if you wallowed in squalor, trapped by murderers, rapists and thieves?"

The little Cetra shuddered. "No," she whispered, looking up as his fingers warmed her own.

"You've only one murderer to handle now, and you seem to be doing quite well."

"You're _not_ a murderer, Sephiroth," she insisted with fire behind her voice.

"I killed fifty men yesterday, Aeris, and that's not even my record."

Her cheeks flushed as she squeezed his hands.

"I…think that's different. It wasn't base murder. They didn't really give you a choice…" His sad smile told her he thought she was kind, and then she asked, "Did you enjoy it?"

"No," he told her, "not in the least, though their lives meant nothing to me. It was…just a task that needed fulfilled, a mission to be completed. They would've hurt you and that's unallowed. No one will hurt you again." He bowed his head. "I never expected that you of all people would insist upon my innocence."

"You don't need innocence to be good." Aeris swallowed in slight fear creeping up for what she now possessed. "B-But I think you're right. I was doing nothing in the slums. Maybe the answer lies out here and not in that steel covered tomb."

Sephiroth bent low to kiss her brow and Aeris shut her eyes and smiled. He gave her a mug full steaming with coffee, and she wrapped her fingers around. The yelp that followed cut a rent in a heart that was already bitterly torn.

"Are you burned?" he asked cupping the small hands, her palms red before his sight.

"I-I don't think so," she tried to assure, but it was hard to concentrate. He ran a long finger gently over the blush and didn't even depress the flesh.

"I'm sorry, Aeris. I…didn't think. The heat has no affect on me."

"It's alright…" She gripped his hand before memory could, as he grabbed the other pot.

"Hm, they didn't bring us any tea. I thought I'd ordered that."

Aeris retrieved her tossed toast and dipped it in the eggs. "Do you not like coffee?"

"Of course I do." He poured another cup. "I was just remarking on its absence. There are people who don't like coffee?" He asked as if the hundred plus years had unwound.

The Cetra giggled, covering her full mouth for only his voice held the shock.

"Yes," she conceded. "They _do _exist. Some people only like tea."

He lifted a brow to that as he took a drink of what would've shriveled her tongue, and the maid bit the question back though it tingled her lips to ask. Blowing the steam from atop her cup, she added cream as a distraction.

"I've always enjoyed it," Sephiroth mused swirling the black brew so it welled. "Though it has no effect on me."

"What do you mean?" Aeris asked as she wrapped the egg in the remaining toast.

Her protector gave a sideways glance, lids lowering as he thought. "Most people drink coffee to become more aware, but caffeine does nothing to me. I'm always aware. I'm always awake. I have my tainted cells for that…" The thought would've been bitter from any other lips, but he just said it because it was so.

"Then it does have an effect." She was struggling to both nibble and hold her messy sandwich together. He turned to her fully and Aeris couldn't imagine being interrogated under that gaze. "You enjoy it. That should be effect enough." Giving him a smile that would light up the slums, she admitted defeat and that she was full. Her own cup was now cool enough to sip, and neither flower girl nor former general thought anything strange of sitting together in the Kalm hotel drinking coffee in the late morning sun.

When only the black dregs stained their cups, Sephiroth walked to the window. Despite all the joys that morning contained, he would not watch Aeris disrobe. One liberty did not lead to the next, though lesser hands would be dust in his grip. Through a veil of silver he saw his epaulets by the window, and his eyes flashed for he'd almost forgotten.

Unfastening his coat he swirled it from his shoulders to stand bare-chested in the breeze. Though it was a bit chill, Sephiroth wasn't cold as he watched the people below. Where once he would've believed that was their place, now he felt a twinge of sad envy. To be like them. To be so normal. To not bear abomination. _She could be though, _he considered while re-strapping the first pauldron. _Not here, not now, but someplace and soon. I'll take her there as I vowed. It's the least I can do. It's the best I can give her, a life in exchange for death. _He ran fingers through the silver skein as it shivered against his back. His hair was far softer than the lick of the lash he'd last remembered there. There was almost sympathy for his prior captor in trying to tear what was already long torn. For the crowd's delight he'd peeled back the leather and laid on the whip between shocks. What stripes were grown had healed in a mere moment as Sephiroth's flesh knit around. There would never even be a scar, and slivered eyes turned towards his wrists. They'd wanted him to be perfect, so no blemish would ever mar that flawless skin. _If scars there would be, I'd have them here. My track marks would shame an addict. _He finished his work and shook the coat out so bright armor shone in the sun. His torture in Midgar had been like a reprieve. He'd endured worse as a boy.

The shush of her footfalls gave Aeris away even though she was still bootless. Sephiroth turned his head to his little flower watching with a soft part to her lips. She'd frozen in place so pierced by his eyes as he lowered the coat in his hands. Her simple brown dress covered her again for practicality and for travel. Not that it mattered what clothes she would wear. She'd be stunning nonetheless. Her high brushed braid still fell to her hips, and only a fool would say her garb matched. The chestnut waves had been tamed in pink tie, but the light still caught honey and amber. That ribbon adorning lowered his eyes, and he wondered if she'd done that on purpose. _She has no guile, _he quickly remembered, _and her memories are sweet within pain._

When the emerald shifted Aeris found she could walk to the brilliance that waited before. Never was skin more white in this world so bathed in the humble daylight. He could've been a statue so perfect was he with each muscle carved from pure marble. His hair was all colors and then none at all as if it mocked the very sun, and the breeze that now stirred it moved only scant strands for it was too lowly to touch. Aeris stepped closer raising her hand so soft fingertips grazed his chest. It was like alabaster for there was no give beneath the flawless cover. In Sephiroth's grip the leather creaked as though begging for voice to cry.

"You're so much warmer than me…" she mused in innocence to the torture her touch had so wrought.

"My average temperature's higher," he said behind his teeth, eyes burning like jade drenched coals. "The corruption causes that, too."

"You're not corrupt," she told him.

"I am, little one. The abomination lives in my cells."

She clicked her tongue. "It may live in you, but it's not all you are. You're more than your genes and your cells…" She lifted her eyes and bit her lower lip, and that was all that he could stand. Sephiroth tossed his coat and swept her up for a kiss that would end the morning. Careful not to mess her braid he clasped the back of Aeris's head. His moonlight hair spilled on her belly as her mouth unfolded like a rose soaked sweet in dew. Tiny hands tried the width of his shoulders before settling into silver skein. He turned his head to slant their mouths together and caught the tears from her cheeks with his lashes.

"Ah little one, I was afraid this would happen," he said in the interim.

"You…afraid?" She couldn't believe it as she slipped a bright lock from his face. "Whatever could you be afraid of?"

"That I'd never stop kissing you." To prove it he entered her mouth so slowly, she couldn't help but writhe in his arms. Aeris's head fell back and he let his lips drift down to lay soft dew on her neck. Her dress dipped deeper than her nightgown did, and the smolder left his eyes for brief rue. One final kiss was laid long on her brow and he set his little flower down. Sephiroth let her lean against his chest as he swirled the coat over his shoulders. The air in the leather held only his scent, and she wanted to drown in that swell. Strong hands wrapped around Aeris's waist to set her on the window ledge, and the Cetra almost blushed to his subtle smile as he fastened the locks of his coat. Still watching her Sephiroth shook out his hair so it swirled surely as moonlight does fall.

_It's him again…but then it isn't, _she thought as he turned away. _All black and silver and emerald and pale, but beauty above it all. It was madness before and riotous anger that hid the glory from his face. _He returned with her shoes to much gratitude, and when he looked down she thought, _And grief. _Sephiroth made sure her bag was near to hand as Aeris laced up her boots. The sun through the window made her skin glow more naturally than Mako eyes. It put a sheen to her cheeks and proved to all sighted that this was where she should be. Not buried in squalor beneath a cold plate to linger with wretches and shades.

"Shall we go, little one?" He offered his hand gloveless as she would want. Sephiroth was still growing used to that. They'd been a filter between him and the world, but the world now included her soft, trusting palm as they walked down the still shaded hall. A few shafts of sunlight stirred the dust on the curtains, but not enough to disturb the dim.

Aeris slipped from Sephiroth's grip when the morning air greeted her face, and he was left to gaze up at the burning sphere with neither blink nor squint for the heat. Between kissing and breakfast the morning had aged, and now it was almost noon. He followed his little charge down the steps more sedately than her near skips. His glamour was up, though he still looked imposing to the few people about the town. It was hard not to with his height and demeanor and the fact he was dressed all in black. He didn't invade minds, but took quick assessment, and that told him that his flower would be bored. Even the stars in their courtyard by night had become earthbound dust by day. _She'd be safe here, but I promised the sea and I won't forfeit that vow._

"Se-" Aeris turned to see what held him, and her face turned as pale as his hair. Clapping a hand over her mouth, white tinged the green round her eyes. Sephiroth sealed the distance to her unfazed even as knowledge lit emerald bright.

"I'm so sorry…" she whispered, and he shook his head sharply touching her brief beneath the chin.

"Never, little one, never apologize. Not even if you turned me in. I have no right to forgive or even accept such words from your innocent lips."

She took his hand and walked beside as the late morning radiated in green. People passing bid them, "Good afternoon," and beamed that such travelers would visit. Beneath her feet the Planet hummed loud, and Aeris gasped for shame in forgetting. _Oh dear friend, what have I been doing? _And the swirled music made her blush.  
"Aeris?" Sephiroth questioned. "Are you alright, little flower?"

"Y-Yes…it's just the Planet."

He cocked his head as he glanced down. "Is it always in your head?"

She considered that as her dear friend pulsed lowly, some petulance in its vibration. For its unfathomable age, it could be quite childish, but Aeris still sensed mirth.

"I can always hear it," she explained, "but it's usually an undercurrent unless it needs my full attention. The voice is as part of me as my own blood, the music like my very breath." She shuddered and he moved closer, scanning the streets for the source of her fear. "There was only one time I couldn't hear it and that was in the basement of that Sector 2 shop. There was something wrong down there." Aeris full shivered. "I never want to find out what."

"You're gone from that place, little flower, and you never have to return."

"But I have to one day, once I figure out how to help the people in the slums." She gripped his one hand with her two, and her determination bled into his flesh. In the life that was lost he'd had men in his command who'd not a fraction of her bravery.

"What is the Planet saying to you now…if you don't mind me asking." They crossed a street with only two parked cars. Most traffic in town was by foot.

Aeris tilted her head with a sweet, little smile, and Sephiroth remembered that they were in public. "It's happy we're leaving. It's overjoyed I found you. It won't shut up about that." She giggled as a gang of children ran by, sadly reminding her urchins in grey. The light would paint them in colors unknown, and they'd forget their lives had ever been wretched.

"Did it tell you to trust me?" Sephiroth asked, and he was looking up to hide his grief.

"Yes…but I didn't want to believe it. I was still so afraid. I thought you'd…done something to it in order to get to me." She was ashamed to admit, but still couldn't lie as his face blanked to the mask.

"I never had that power, Aeris." The breeze bore the whisper that held her name, and her skin shivered to his low voice. "I had others far darker, but for your dear friend I could neither hear nor influence."

The houses turned smaller and downgraded to cottages dotting unbroken green. The maid's cheeks were tinged pink as they avoided the dust of a woman sweeping her steps. That color narrowed emerald in scrutiny as Sephiroth glanced again to the sun.

"Do you have sun protection, little flower?" he asked, and Aeris blinked and shook her head.

"N-No, I guess I didn't think about that. Wh-What about you?"

"My cells regenerate far too fast for me to tan or burn."

"Well…" she stammered. _Of course they would. _"That explains why you're so pale."

"And ever will be." He lowered his head as Aeris squeezed his hand. They passed the final house on the outskirts and fields grew beneath their feet. "It's as though I wear a death shroud." He looked up again at the sun. "A winding sheet of my very skin."

"I would say it's useful," Aeris considered. "It's one less thing to worry about." Her practicality for horror made Sephiroth smile and he brushed his fingers over her cheek. The touch lifted her lips as she rose on her toes trying to see the endless distance. The sky held only wisps of clouds, and though the sun reigned it wasn't too warm. Somewhere on that horizon lay the ocean, and Aeris's heart gave a jump for that fact. But they'd have to cross a great expanse before finding that distant shore. "How long will it take to reach the sea?" _And then how do we cross? My maps were less than useless with that…they showed neither ferry nor bridge. _The elation that had lighted in her breast turned swiftly to worry and rue, and Sephiroth stopped and turned toward her laying a gentle palm to her face.

"Not as long as you think, little flower. I…was not fully truthful with you."

"What do you mean?" she asked very slowly, and her protector looked away as he sighed.

"Do you remember in Midgar when we stood in your garden and I sidestepped out of your sight?"

"Of course…how could I forget something like that?" She bit her lip. "I was…still a bit scared of you then."

Sephiroth lifted her chin in the air, lowering his lids over the light. "Never be ashamed of that, little flower. Your caution kept you alive." He dropped his hand back to his side, finding it hard to make the motion smooth. "I told you I could hide out of sight, but I didn't tell you the rest. Within the between I can sidestep again and go to places far away. It's…" He bowed his head and silver trickled over. "It's how I went so quickly from place to place in my mad rush for godhood."

Aeris stepped closer and laid her hand atop his, saying nothing but praying for peace. The world swirled her mantra, and though Sephiroth couldn't hear it, he felt her mercy down to his bones.

"But what this means is I can take you, too, so long as we're skin to skin."

"Then why didn't you do this in Midgar?"

He half smiled at her astuteness. "There are layers to it, little one. Three to be exact. Well," he considered, "technically four if you count where we are right now. In order to pass through and wind up elsewhere, I need to go through to the fourth, but in Midgar I can only step through one. The last two layers are blocked. I can go in between but moving within is like swimming in a sea of thick dusk."

"How are they blocked?" Her brow wrinkled beneath her bangs as they blew in the wind.

"I'm not sure." He gazed over her head, and she wondered if he could see the far shore. "I think it may be the abundance of reactors, but it's always been that way." The emerald pulsed slightly and that told Aeris his vision was towards memory. "Though I believe it was done on purpose so they'd know when I was there. I can't truly sidestep, but I can disappear and essentially be invisible." He avoided the past and peered down at their hands, pulling her slightly closer.

"You…you told me what it was like in there. That Midgar looks greyer if that's even possible."

Sephiroth smiled. "Yes, but you always look the same…" The Mako glow softened. "Even down in the fourth, you'd beckon me back with your light." The wind burned Aeris's cheeks to blush, and he traced a finger along delicate bone. "You'll see how it is when I take you within." Her eyes were lifted and white circled the green, so he told her, "Don't be afraid." Stepping even closer, a mere finger was between them as he rubbed the back of her hand. "But I must tell you this, Aeris, we can only be ourselves in between."

"What does that mean, Sephiroth? I'm always myself. So are you."

_Oh Aeris…you have no inkling what I'm hiding from your innocent sight. _"You'll see, little flower. I don't want you to be frightened by what will be revealed."

"You mean be frightened of you." She sighed with relief to his hidden confusion. "I'm not frightened of you." She blinked looking up and her smile shamed the sun.

"I hope to always keep it that way…"

He carefully tightened his grip on her hands and the Mako gleam jumped in brightness. Aeris wet her lips as the Planet murmured under, unsure of its daughter's intentions. _In between…that's where the sword waits…_she wondered if it missed his touch.

"Step with me, little flower," Sephiroth said, and she shut her eyes as he led her through air.

The sun hung above like a burning black ball and the sky was a stale, milky white. In between the step she had pulled herself closer to lay her head on his chest. His arms knew their business without being told and had wrapped around the flower maid. Even beyond the black of his coat, everything lay in shadow. Smears of shade floated in the air and coalesced into howling mouths. Aeris shut her eyes as a whimper escaped, and a gentle hand stroked her hair.

"Look up at me, my little flower, and tell me what you see." Sephiroth broke a silence that was so complete that death couldn't make it deeper, and though he used nothing to make her do so, his very voice drew obedience. The only hue that existed as the oily shades swirled lived forever in his eyes. Raw, roiling Mako, bisected by darkness poured light only on her face, and that shiver that now rode Aeris's skin touched both fear and awe. She trusted him. She really did…but that wing made night white as ice. His skin was lit to the palest of fires, and his hair was so silver it burned. He had to hold her with just his right hand for the Masamune held his left. The long blade cut the darkness and was the only true match for him as the shadows swayed. "What is my truth, little flower?" he whispered.

There was only one answer. "Light…"

"You see more than that, Aeris…you see the horror."

"I see only you."

Sephiroth shook his head and that spare brilliance scattered swallowed down by silent shades. "I'm right after all, and the light you see is reflection of your own." He sighed as his lashes covered the heat still unburnt to splay long on his cheeks. He pressed her closer and Aeris squeaked in shock at the tightness of his grip. Chagrin loosened it as he thought of the shore, and he said, "Step with me again, little-" A thousand scratching nails thundered through his ears as the shadows swallowed their silence. Frightened summer green and a small outstretched hand were the last things he saw in the blackness. Clawed from all layers, the once general crashed on grey sands like a black draped wave.

Sephiroth sputtered and splayed on his back beneath blue washed sky and daylight. At his boots lapped the western sea, the beach squelching between his fingers. He rolled to a stand shaking sand from his mane, eyes wide as he searched the expanse. To his left lay the stone silent coastal town, once bright walls now as grey as the shore. Gulls called and wheeled unperturbed by the stillness, as Sephiroth whirled in the surf. Mako eyes could've seared a hole in the world, as desperation destroyed his mask. From sea to shore and all between, Aeris was nowhere to be found.

She was alone and her dear friend was gone, extinguished from her mind like a match. There was nothing but stillness and darkness and cold, so empty it could've collapsed. The flower girl's every breath stirred the silence, and it hated her for that alone. The sun's great lidless, empty eye cursed her presence as it rotted, and the milky sky roiled while the shadows oozed against. They seemed to coalesce into a long, jagged wound, and black blood seeped like tears from the edge.

Aeris stifled a cry and fled, calling his name but no low voice calmed her fear. She screamed and pleaded for her dear friend, but no music filled her soul. It was neither blocked nor quelled, just gone. As though it were dead or had never known life or spoken to Cetra ears. She covered them now to at least explain why she now dwelled in silence. This place was flat and the ground was as black as the sun that held her in judgment. She didn't want to look at it. It was engorging to swallow her down. From all corners and none, the scratching crept hushed, and Aeris had no place to hide.

Light erupted on her right side, and she whirled with her hands to her mouth. Relief swelled her heart as it flooded her chest to see that pale sight before. So what that his great, unfurled wing stained the darkness. He hadn't abandoned here.

"Sephiroth!" she cried and his eyes slid over. His pupils were near nonexistent like an empty shiver of night. Silver hair could've been made of the pale metal for there was no wind in this place. The emerald widened as his face remained blank, and Aeris fought breath to run fast. The step so disrupted would soon be complete once he wrapped her again in his arms. She wished she could fly through the air as he'd done when he carried her through the wastes, but it didn't matter. He'd come back for her, and the Cetra was safe again. Then to his grip was drawn from this dim the Masamune that had eaten her heart. In his left hand it found her once more to shine with insatiable hunger. His face held nothing as Mako pre-tore her, promising the great sword her hot blood.

* * *

_Author's Note: Finally kisses! It was agonizing for me to hold out that long when they clearly wanted to, because I clearly wanted to write about that. I had to have Aeris kiss him first, because Seph just never would see himself as worthy to do so ;_; I feel many of you probably hate me right now for ending the chapter like this. What can I say? History repeats. The next one will be posted as per usual next Friday (maybe a little earlier than midnight depending on how tired I am Thursday evening) May 22, and it is entitled **The Devil You Know. **Thank you all for your reviews, likes, follows, and messages. Please feel free to message me! I absolutely love talking to people about my favorite ship, FFVII, or really anything else. I'm a huge ASOIAF/GOT fan, too, and I **LOVE **talking theories :)_

_Until next week, adieu._


	9. The Devil You Know

_Author's Note: This is the longest chapter yet at over 10k words. I hope you all enjoy!_

"**And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light…"**

**-2 Corinthians 11:14**

**Chapter 9**

**The Devil You Know**

Aeris screamed as she slid to the ground, feet scrambling wildly for purchase. Clawing at the black soil with ragged nails, she tried to turn and run, but Sephiroth was far swifter as he broke his stone's pose, searing the air with his eyes. The face he wore now was only for killing. Empty save beauty and pale. It was what he'd been made for, his reason for being, and she was a task to be fulfilled. _He slaughtered those men in the depths of the slums in order to get to me! To kill me in this world of shadow he surely calls his own. _This was the trap. This was the turn. This was the betrayal. The Planet was not here to warn her and she'd fallen like a fool for this ploy. _Oh dear friend, when I die in the darkness, will I find my way back to you? Or will my spirit wander this abyss and become a swirling shade?_

It was this terror that stilled Aeris's struggles as she folded her hands to pray. At the sight of her defeat, he picked up speed and his eyes could've burned down world. If she blinked she'd miss her death again on the end of unyielding steel. He leapt through the air and her eyes streamed with tears as she waited for doom to descend. Over her he flew and that wing spread wide as Sephiroth turned the sword in his hand. The momentum from speed had him sliding with grace as the Masamune's swift arc awoke roar.

The…thing that had thrown him from her side gushed blood so black it steamed. Darker things spilled as he rolled to his feet avoiding the wash of entrails. Aeris turned her head to catch a mere glimpse of ageless horror that slunk through her mind. A moment longer would've lost her to soul rending madness, but she was saved as Sephiroth swept her up and slid back through the seams of the world.

He stepped through the foam where the lonely sea made endless love to the shore. Wind-borne waves broke at his calves, but his boots were high and both they and his coat were thick and waterproof. The surf sloshed against as he walked through wet sands, which hushed softer than tears at his neck. Aeris clung there with her eyes tight shut, completely encased in his arms. The Masamune and monster were both back in between, the one writhing around the other. Sephiroth would never tell her that. She'd no need to envision that dance… The flower girl dug her hands beneath soft winter hair. She prayed and prayed and prayed again that this was not a dream. Damp sands left his prints for the next sweeping wave as a hard sob shook the small form.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to view his little charge's stricken face. Fear had drained her cheeks of color that not even tears could return, but she still raised her head and kissed her savior over and over again. Cheek, brow, and temple all were blessed by her salt stained lips, and Sephiroth shut his eyes for a moment unsure how to bear this pain.

"I thought…I thought…" she sputtered and choked.

"I know what you thought, little flower." She'd fallen back against his neck, and he laid his own lips to her brow.

"You came back to save me…not to kill me. I'm so sorry, Sephiroth."

"Hush, little one. What did I tell you? Never apologize to me. I don't deserve it and I won't have it. Not now not ever from you." He covered her cheek with one of his palms and Aeris sniffed, lifting summer streamed eyes. "You were terrified of the monster that had taken your life."

"But you weren't the monster in between. How many times have you saved me now?"

"It will never be enough."

"No, Sephiroth, you're so very wrong. What…what _was _that thing?"

Sephiroth shifted his eyes away to look up at the sun. The sky that attended was so blue by the water, it could've stolen its hue.

"The horror that's swimming in my veins…the darkness that echoes my own."

Aeris's breath went from whisper to gasp as she sat upright in his arms. "No, no, that can't be! I called down what destroyed it myself."

"Evil never dies," he reminded her sadly. "I'm living proof of that."

"You're not evil," she insisted still stubborn and he very nearly smiled. "And you never were. You were just another pawn."

"That may be, but it doesn't negate the fact that the horror's returned." The sea breeze picked up and streamed his hair back as it ruffled the bow in her hair.

"What will we do?"

"_We _will do nothing. You've already done too much." He touched her face and shook his head, as the sandy hill crested up. "You lost your life. You lost your friends. You lost your very future…" Sephiroth jerked his face away, but Aeris had seen something there.

"What is it?" She tried to turn him back, but it was like trying to move a statue. Covering her hand, he sighed to return, but those moments had gathered grief.

"Your friends, Aeris…Strife and Valentine. That is how they died."

A strangled cry tore at her throat, as she tried to comprehend. "H-How do you know this?"

"Like calls to like. Cells call to cells. The moment I saw it the past was laid bare. It is a piece of the abomination…just as I am."

She kissed him them and took the foul words to destroy them with her purity, and Sephiroth stopped for this could not be unanswered though the moment was far too brief. Aeris ran fingers through his long bangs so similar to her own. "So you're not the only one who can go in between?" she asked to half-veiled emerald.

"I've always carried these cells within so I've always been able to do so. I don't know if either of them could…but they would've heard the scratching."

"The…scratching?"

Sephiroth sighed as he looked up at the wall that now loomed grey before. A part crumbling staircase narrowed his eyes, and he wondered what they'd find at the top.

"I didn't tell you about it before because I didn't want you to worry…" Aeris was staring hard at him now, white bright around summer leaves. "In the basement of your house there's a crack in the wall and through it I heard a scratching like a myriad claws of a thousand trapped rats dying in darkness below."

"Oh dear gods…" the flower maid whimpered, "I-I know that crack, but I never heard anything within. It was always been there even before w-when my mother was still alive. I never _felt _anything…" She let her mind open fully, and her dear friend murmured confused. The Planet hadn't even seemed to notice her absence and only trilled nonsense when she tried to explain. It was as though she'd been taken out of time when Sephiroth had pulled her between.

"I don't think you'd be able to, little flower, now that I know what it's from, but your friends would've heard it like I did, and they found a way to seek it out." He bowed his head regretful though he wasn't the direct cause of their deaths.

Aeris's eyes found fresh tears again as she laid her cheek against his. The flower girl barely noticed that he was carrying her up a high stone stair. "You were able to defeat it…just by yourself."

"I doubt it's dead, little flower, and even if it were, the very implications of its existence are far worse…I felt _it._" And Aeris had to imagine the shudder that still barely quivered his form. He reached the top and from the height sought the sky and all the sorrow it now contained. "There were many, many experiments, Aeris." He lowered his head. "Before they finally produced me. I hide my horror within, little one, and you call this pale veneer beauty. I told you evil never dies and something has woken it again."

"But who would do that?" She pursed her lips then and gave him a sideways glance. His grim expression said all too well that they shared the same somber thought. "But they're all dead," Aeris insisted, "and the tower is empty. That's all in the past."

"The past will never leave use, Aeris. It sleeps beneath our skins. Someone has touched what should have never seen the light of day." The heavens were as empty as the mask of his face as he scanned the unfathomable distance. "It seems I must face the false mother again before I can find the true…"

"Not alone," she told him. "You'll need help. No one should face _that _alone."

"No Aeris, not from you." She looked so hurt the agony was blinding as he forced Mako green from the sky.

"That's not what I meant," he told her gently. "You've done enough. You've done your part. This fight is meant for me."

The flower girl gave a huffing sigh and he balanced himself between grief and desire. She suddenly shuddered and he held her close as a cold breeze broke on his arms. "I thought it was over…" Aeris whispered, and Sephiroth shut his eyes in despair. "I thought the world was safe. I thought the worst was past…"

"Things like that…they never die. They will always be here, Aeris. Ever hungry and ever gnawing at the very heart of the world." The Cetra shook so violently he cursed his direct tongue.

"What if..." She trembled but forced herself up so that she could face emerald green. "What if all worlds have such darkness living and gnawing at their hearts?"

"Shh," he admonished his eyes so growing wide that white held what couldn't be fear. "Don't speak of such things, little one. That horror is not for you to bear."

The city at the top of the wall was quiet, and Sephiroth stepped slowly to look around. It was the off season, early spring, but still Costa del Sol owned its solace. Too many buildings were boarded up with wood that looked a hundred years old. The shore over the wall was even empty of those who preferred a cooler clime, and his sharp gaze caught a few broken chairs sticking out like white bones in the sand. The streets were covered in grains so blown from the shore with no sweepers to clear it, and through every window was only desertion with signs that hung crooked and warped.

"It's all so…empty." Aeris's sigh was lost in the shush of the sea.

"I suppose my apocalypse was not good for business." Sephiroth swept his gaze through the streets searching someplace for her to rest. Though he could be swift in the between he didn't want to risk her again. If it had to be done, he'd return them to Kalm, and they'd figure it out in the morning.

A taller building rose ahead, encroaching eve enhancing wane light. Sephiroth pushed the hair from his face as he approached to see sign unobscured. The doors were open, which saved him the trouble of having to kick them in. Though it had been finer in its heyday, the hotel wore its age like vintage. Yellow lit chandeliers hung on their cords like gilded acrobats from the high ceiling, and though the door disturbed grumbling dust, it fell unseen upon rose and cream carpet.

"Ah gods, guests!" the counter clerk said, stowing a questionable book aside. "W-Were you looking for a room?" Neon green widened on an expressionless face. "O-Of course you were," the man spluttered, turning attention to his computer screen. "Why else would you walk into a hotel unless you wanted a room? U-Unless you just wanted dinner?" He only glanced for a moment at the blank, pale mask before he began furiously typing. "Erm, name and stay length?"

A plastic card slid on the countertop as a low voice said, "One night."

Between thumb and pointer, the clerk tentatively took it to the tap the information with twitching fingers. "A-And you're holding a young lady, so I guess that'd would be two."

Aeris jerked up to peer around, surprised Sephiroth had let him see. He'd shifted her easily to one arm to retrieve the card from his pocket, and the Cetra leaned against his epaulet with a little half-made smile.

"How about the Sunlight Suite?"

"Sunlight sounds more than lovely."

The clerk's grin twinkled book-tired eyes. He rang the bell amongst the clutter so zealously the former general almost muted his ears. From a corner room a bellhop near sprinted, wringing his hands to keep them from shaking. At Sephiroth's neon glare he stood stock still as if he were bound by the light. His outfit was silly and very old-fashioned, but it fit with the air of this place.

"Show our guests to the Sunlight Suite." When the desk clerk spoke, the other man jump-turned. "Oh and make sure you wake the cook."

The bellhop gave them a scurrying glance as Sephiroth tilted his head. He always wondered what people made of him when he wore his glamour.

"Oh… you don't have any luggage." The man's shoulders slumped.

"Nothing that should trouble you." Sephiroth indicated Aeris's travel bag.

"Okay…well you can follow me then. I hope you don't mind stairs." The first hallway was dark as if the lights didn't realize evening had caught them up. The stairwell was lit though if a bit dim, not that that mattered to Mako eyes. "Sorry there's no elevator." The thick carpeted steps muffled his feet, while black boots made not one creak. "We're the oldest hotel in Costa del Sol and the only one still open now."

"I noticed the city seemed quite deserted even for the season of spring."

The bellhop reached the first landing and turned to climb up the next set. "Well, it _is _the off season, but my grandmother told me that after the…incidents people craved luxury less." He glanced over his shoulder to expressionless face as his guest quickly flicked his eyes down. The woman he was holding nodded to acknowledge with sadness enough for them both.

"Many residents moved away as if they were tired of decadence. Not that far from what I've heard."

"Where did they go?" Aeris asked.

"The Whispers, miss. It's just slightly south, but the wind and the climate are better." He was trying to hide the fact he was winded after just two sets of stairs. His guest was carrying a maid in one arm and had not even broken a sweat.

"The Whispers?"

"Yes, it's a quaint little town just recently built, well, recent like the last fifty years. I've never been there myself."

"It sounds quite sweet…" The flower maid smiled, and Sephiroth turned to catch her eye.

"I'm sure it is, miss." The bellhop nodded. "Business has been picking up year by year. That's why we still remain. Just a skeleton crew now of course, but in summer we're a bit livelier." He paused on the third landing to hold up the wall, while mopping his brow with a sleeve. "Rumor has it there'll be a train to there before the end of the summer."

Puffing up the next set of stairs, the bellhop flung open the door at the top. He caught his breath whilst thumbing through keys still flushed when he found the right one. The room straight before them was what he unlocked, pushing open the double doors. Sephiroth ducked below the lintel and stepped into rosy dusk.

The bay window spanned the full length of the building and faced the west where the day died in joy. Aeris sat up to his measured smooth steps, while the city erupted in light. It was hard to remember how empty it was when the setting sun filled every shadow. The flower girl laid her head against flawless skin and hair that shamed brightest sea foam.

The once general turned back toward their host. "This is more than acceptable. Thank you for bringing us here." He retrieved a fifty gil note, and the bellhop's breath stumbled in shock. Between thumb and forefinger he grasped the money rubbing its surface to prove it was true.

"Th-Thank you, sir." He stowed it away and brushed off his uniform. "Once the cook's finished I'll bring you some dinner. Sorry there's not really a choice. He just tends to make what he wants."

"That's no trouble," Aeris said with a smile. "At one point we had too many options. Sometimes it's nice to have too few." Her grin widened as she saw her protector stiffen the mask on his face.

Relief loosened the bellhop's shoulders. "Good then, well I'll be back …and I'll make sure I knock when I am," he added in afterthought.

The door clicked closed and they were alone to bathe in the radiant light. Sephiroth carried Aeris closer to the window where the dusk unending did spill. She shut her eyes to the murmuring Planet, the song ever sung in her head. The flower girl wondered if he'd be able to hear if he delved into her mind. _Not that he would do that now…unless perhaps I allowed. _She turned to grief that had leaked through the mask though it could not disrupt the glory. His hair was awash in the colors of the dusk as emerald bright eyes cut through. She'd yet to see anything quell the gleam that should've set lashes afire. His one arm around her was just as steady as it been when he'd first swept her up.

"Do you never tire?" the Cetra asked softly.

"Not really, little one," he replied. "I could hold you in my arms for days and run to the ends of the earth." Sephiroth laid his brow to hers, as Aeris passed a hand through his hair. "In fact…in this moment I find myself never wanting to put you down. I hope that doesn't frighten you, Aeris." He wrapped his other arm the maid and sealed Mako behind shut lids.

"Why would that ever frighten me now?" Silken hair danced between her fingers. "Nothing can ever hurt me so long as I'm with you. You keep proving that over and over again…I never should've doubted." She pushed herself up using his shoulders and peered around with unconcealed awe. "So this is what it's like to see things so high. It's such a regal view…"

Sephiroth shook his head before kissing her brow. Her sincerity was unreal.

"It's funny. Cloud was right about that…" She expected the stiffness as she laid her cheek so smooth alongside his.

"Right about what, little flower?" The words measured themselves like a stingy cook.

"At one point he said that your strength was impossible to describe. The Great General Sephiroth…and now here I am held safe in your arms."

"Not so impossible he was unable to best it and you more so, little one." He kissed the cheek that was laid to his own seeing green light spill soft on pale skin. "This 'Great General' was waylaid by you, and I see no shame in that. My greatest grief is for what I did to you, your friends, and this very world."

"Sephiroth, you can't discount intention and what you were forced to endure."

"I see you've been thinking about former suitors." Amusement mixed with pain in his voice. He envied how she could slip through the past with protection from horror and grief.

"Oh stop that!" Aeris lifted her head, shaking the bangs from her eyes. "We never even kissed." She blushed. "I mean…he tried to…only once, but I was tired of puppies." She slid a small hand to his cheek and he covered it with his own. "I thought maybe I'd try generals next…"

"That's quite a leap, don't you think, little flower, from puppies to generals?" Sephiroth pulled her closer so that their brows touched and her fingers slipped between his own.

"I know…" she murmured, "I'm being quite proud."

"No, you're not being proud enough."

He kissed her anyway so the subtle words of hatred were swept away by this tide. The sun relented to starlight, which gave day its last respect to sprinkle the firmament from afar. What street lamps ignited could shake neither this light nor the one by the window side. Sephiroth slanted his mouth hard over hers to slake unquenched thirst, and Aeris made a soft, little sound, sliding slim fingers through silver. Silk brighter than moon washed over her skin in envy to pulsing starlight, and he answered that with a tug to her ribbon so chestnut cascaded down. With one hand he gathered enough locks together to tilt her head farther back. Exposing a creamy throat to his mouth as she dug fingers into his hair, but Sephiroth refused to go past this boundary and lifted again for a kiss that asked for entry before claiming her so slow. Aeris flung her arms around his neck, as he found the side of hers again. A little cry that held no pain heralded the slight press of teeth, and the low chuckle teased her reddening ears as she pulled back to meet his brow.

"I can't…" She fought for sweet stolen breath. "…think of anything else when you're kissing me. Not horror, not dark…not even the Planet." She blushed as it laughed in her ears.

"I can't lie, little one," he murmured, brushing the bangs from her face. "With you in this moment, I'm merely a man, a very lucky man, and not a lab engineered monster."

"You could never be 'merely' anything, and you're never ever _that_."

He tossed his hair and she shut her eyes as it swept sweet over her skin, but his face lowered in grief brought it to her own as Aeris laid a hand to his cheek.

"You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen," she said before biting her lip. "You had to have loads of admirers…in addition to your fan club."

"They were vapid though, Aeris," Sephiroth sighed. "There was nothing of substance within."

"They had to be better than that Follower of Seph…that Phaedra Levanah girl. Something about her shop just wasn't right, the Planet was muffled and-"

He kissed her before the shudder could form, and Aeris proved her words in that moment. The darkness all faded as she shut her eyes to afterimage of silver light. When they finally parted, Sephiroth sighed to reluctantly set the flower maid down. She half fell upon the window ledge for her heart was still drawn in the kissing dance and couldn't fathom how to power aught else.

"I'm going to wash the sand from my hair," he told her, "unless you wish to shower first."

The little Cetra's head was thrown back against the wall with the memory of lips on her skin. There was no chance now of keeping her feet to accomplish such a task. There was black dirt beneath her nails, and that soured a bit of her reverie, but still Aeris managed to wave a hand, which he caught as he crouched before.

"Stay here in the starlight, my little flower. If you could only see what it does to you."

He kissed her hand like a gentleman would and went to perform his ablutions. Aeris shut her eyes when he left her listening to the water run. She remembered how he'd stood by the window in Kalm, bare-chested to the morning light and imagined him slipping black leather from his shoulders, white skin emerged as though from cocoon. He'd hang his coat carefully not wishing to steep it in damp or too much steam. Then to his high belt he'd turn his attention before reaching for the one at his pants…

The Planet's full laughter jolted her up to the red heat of blush on her face. _You're naughty, dear friend, _she admonished so trying to lay the blame on the world, but Aeris was too honest and then felt ashamed to have not said her prayers for this day. Pulling herself up on the large cushioned ledge, she knelt with bowed head and clasped hands. The shower behind could just be soft rain and not contain her beautiful protector so washed in white, sliding large hands along porcelain skin…

Aeris made herself see the babes in the slums huddled together for warmth. Though she had no power to sidestep, the Planet could offer her sight of what it bore on its face. There were fewer urchins this new nightfall, and she shed tears for the missing's fate. Her mother's house was lonely, but it still stood intact. Even now with knowledge neither she nor the Planet could sense the evil below. This troubled her so she moved her mind to the peace of her church. In the red ruled night, it was still a haven, and the bloody glow could never dim that. Bittersweet tinged the back of her throat for amongst grimness there was always that light. The flowers within still grew in droves though they missed their mistress's touch. _Will I ever see you again? _she wondered with fluttering heart. _Though I could grow others elsewhere, you were my hope and my joy. You showed me light could blossom from darkness in this and the last life._

"What do you pray for, little one?" a low voice murmured, and Aeris whirled around with a gasp. His coat was unbuckled and the epaulets gone as dried moonlight spilled over one shoulder. Her reaction made him freeze in place, hands raised to show no harm. "I didn't mean to interrupt you, Aeris. I…didn't realize I spoke aloud." He bowed his head and long lashes splayed in shadow against his cheeks. "Those are your private thoughts with the Planet. I've no right to-"

"No, I'll tell you." She climbed down to stand before him, and his light alone broke the dark.

"You will?" he whispered, shaking silver aside.

"Yes."

"Why would you do that, Aeris?"

"Because you asked..." She played with her hands. "I-I don't really know. Maybe because I've been too long alone with only the Planet to hear my thoughts."

"I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have thought it. I shouldn't wonder about your prayers."

She stepped forward and took his left hand in her two. Always she was shocked at how warm he was for skin the white of ice. "It's okay to question. It's okay to wonder and it's okay to dream."

"Not for me, little one." He soft threaded their fingers.

"_Especially _for you," she declared. "You've been denied that for far too long." She laid her head to his chest, and he held her closer with his free right hand. Aeris shut her eyes with a smile, her cheek to his skin, as Sephiroth stared unblinking down. She tilted her face up to meet his gaze with no fear for sliver split light.

"I love the way you look up at me, Aeris." The words broke through his layered wall. She wet her lips and he fought to maintain a semblance of his mask.

"I love looking up at you, Sephiroth. I love that you're so tall…I love that you're so gentle and yet so very strong."

He released her fingers and let that palm cover half of her lovely face. Aeris smiled and turned her head to place a soft kiss there, as the hand by her waist clenched to a fist that could've crushed a man's skull. "You asked…what do I pray for. Mostly for answers, a way to help the desperate poor."

"Mostly?" he questioned hearing the shadow that lay beneath her words.

Aeris squirmed a little bit, and a silver brow lifted high. "I already know what you're going to say…but I also pray for you."

"Why would you do that, little flower?"

"You deserve joy and peace."

He lifted her chin while shaking his head. "I deserve memory and pain."

Aeris sighed with tiniest smile. "Which is why I pray for you in hopes you'll see the truth."

"You know my truth, little one. You felt it between your bones."

"That was never _your _truth, Sephiroth. The truth is what I see now."

He bent down low to taste this truth from her giving lips, and in the midst of this, the bellhop returned with a gentle knock on the door. Sephiroth lifted and turned his head, calling out, "Come in." The doors were flung open and the man fumbled in dragging a cart laden with platters. Aeris sighed as her protector swept over to hold the door for their host.

"Thanks again, sir," the bellhop huffed. "You're really far too kind." Sephiroth kept his silence at that. As if now noticing darkness, he snapped his fingers to bring the room to light. Chandeliers similar to the vintage lobby hung in grace above, and the man was too busy managing his burden to notice that small bit of magic.

Aeris blinked and whirled around finally noticing their environs. A massive king sized bed stood as the centerpiece of the room. Complete with four posters and shimmering veils, the Cetra couldn't help but blush. In the far corner near the huge bay window stood a mini bar, and the wall behind the bed was only a divider that stretched as wide as the headboard. Behind this was another full room with an antique dining table. This was where the bellhop headed with his clattering, rickety foe.

"I thought there was no elevator," Sephiroth said as the man dressed and set the table.

"Well, there's a dumb waiter," he admitted, shuffling trays from cart to wood. "Not that I can fit in there, mind you, but it does make room service easier." Grinning despite the blank expression, he brushed off his hands with a sigh. "Well there you go." He gave Aeris a nod. "When you're done just leave everything here and I'll be along to collect it." He touched his cap and refused more money before leaving them again to themselves. Even after that they could hear him whistling as he walked back down the stairs.

"What a cheerful person," Aeris observed as the once general's gaze burned the door. This was something else he had almost destroyed, and he almost winced as he heard, "Sephiroth?"

He turned back and she was sitting at the table, head tilted up towards him.

"It's alright, little one. I was just thinking…thinking about-"

"The past?"

He nodded while Aeris softly sighed and gestured to the seat across. Sephiroth took it and almost half-smiled at the strange tides of fate. In lives before he'd given the orders with no question that they'd be obeyed, but with a mere motion of her tiny hand, she'd commanded the great general.

Two candles stood sentinel on the table's edges and the lights within were dim. Sephiroth flicked his gaze between the two wicks, as Aeris asked, "Will you light them?"

"Truly, little flower?"

"Well," she considered, "he did make an effort to bring them along." She swung her legs beneath the high chair and her smile could've made the spark.

Sephiroth crooked two fingers up and flames burst from purple wax. Her cheeks were flushed a seashell pink that bled down to her lips, and the once general turned his head to the shadows shutting bright eyes to not light his pain.

"You must be…so happy that they can't see who we truly are."

She stopped her legs and gazed up in confusion. "Why would you ever think that?"

"Aeris…" He allowed a sliver of green to sink in the hollows beneath his eyes. "They obviously think that we're…together. I can't begin to imagine what shame-"

"Stop it!" She clenched her small fists now as he faced her, hiding surprise. "There is no shame, nor would there be if they could see you as I do."

Sephiroth searched her face full of innocent anger that he'd slander himself in this way. Then he lifted away the top of the platter to reveal their evening meal. Sea bass and scallops ingeniously paired with watercress and squash.

"Oh, I've never had this before!" Aeris almost squealed clapping her hands in delight. Her protector shook his head at her ire given way to exuberance. "Now are _you _going to eat?" she almost accused.

"A little." And this time he did smile.

There was wine like black velvet so he poured her a glass and as an afterthought one for himself. The candles flickered as Aeris tasted what the sea had to offer. It was different, but seasoned well so savory blended with salt. The wine was more bitter so she stuck out her tongue as he laughed before pouring her tea.

"Sephiroth, can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, little flower." He sipped slow at his glass that sparkled in the flames to reveal a ruby heart.

The candles danced soft in summer green as she licked chamomile from her lips. Suddenly shy and he cocked his head to the side wondering what had paused her query.

"The fire. You can just…create it, can't you?"

The stem was crushed to glittering sand as Sephiroth caught the cup ere it spilled. His eyes stretched to the white as the mask fell in place though the edges were pulling in. "This is not good dinner conversation, Aeris…"

"I know. I know. I'm sorry-"

"How many times do I have to tell you, little one? Never apologize to a monster." He stared at the broken cup couched in his hand and quickly drained the rest.

"About as many times as I must tell you that you're _not _a monster." Her hands were pressed on either side of her plate as the flower girl leaned slightly forward. "I guess I could apologize for apologizing, but that would be even worse." He parted his lips to her smile, laid down the glass and caught her hand. One lost drop spilled on the white cloth, and he turned away from remembered blood.

"Aeris…" He squeezed then kissed her fingers. "I cannot deny you…yes. I already know what else you're wondering…why didn't my flesh burn."

She let her hair cloak her face so that she could look up behind. He'd said she was genuine, but she could scarcely believe her thoughts were so easy to read.

"It won't affect me nor anything I'm touching, which is why my clothes remained intact. That would've been quite awkward." He only smiled because her blush would've lit the night sky.

"S-So if we're touching skin to skin-"

"Do you trust me, little flower?"

_With all my heart, _she wanted to say, but could only glance up to assure. He took her hand and kept a firm but gentle grip on delicate fingers. Pulling it forward, he felt her resistance and immediately stopped. Looking over, he saw her bottom lip worried between her teeth.

"You don't have to do this, Aeris. I understand if you don't trust me."

"No, no, it's not that. I-I do. I really want to know. Please continue, but thank you for stopping…when you felt that I was scared." He nodded while barely holding the mask.

She did wince slightly in hot expectation, but felt only a cool buzz on her hand. It made no sense that his skin was warmer when its hue could shame new snow. Her soft palm was above the candle where the lick of the tongue was the worst. Slowly he lowered always watching for any hint that his powers were failed, but she only held awe and that something else that brought his heart sweetest pain.

Leaving the candle to flicker in spite, Sephiroth examined her palm. He ran a long finger soft up the center as she shuddered and held back a gasp. "Are you hurt, Aeris?" He snapped his head up, but it wasn't pain on her face. His lids half lowered to the smolder of jade as he started now at her forearm.

"Please…" she whispered and his lashes wove green as he kissed fingers, palm, and wrist. "Your touch is like feathers backed by steel and you wear your beauty like a halo." She wasn't drunk from those few sips of wine, but still her mind felt muddled. The Planet pulsed softly a comforting song that promised her all was well.

"I supposed I should be glad in that," he replied, tracing the bright veins in her wrist. "It's the only crown I'll ever have. It's a miracle to me, Aeris that you would trust your fragile hand to mine."

Her eyes squeezed closed as she concentrated hard on not biting through her lip. Even duel firelight flickered high could never rival his own. She looked up to the bright hot emerald while his thumb now stroked her palm.

"You can just…command the fire like you command everything else."

"Not you, my little flower. Never you. You are not mine to command."

"I'm not so sure about that," Aeris whispered laying her hand over his own. He stopped his soft torture to hold hand to hand over the remnants of dinner. "So you're saying if you commanded me that I wouldn't obey?" It was a shy little smile that would've been coy if worn by any other.

Jade and emerald swirled round the sliver as he rubbed her tender skin. "This is also not appropriate dinner conversation, and I'd never command you, Aeris, nor force you in any way."

"Whenever you speak, whatever you say, your voice carries a certain compulsion. It's as though you _were _created to command and be instantly obeyed."

He lowered his head and the flames made silver a palette for their light. "I don't purposely do that, Aeris. I…was given a powerful will."

"Maybe it's just natural."

"There's nothing 'natural' about me, Aeris. Remember I told you everything I am was carefully designed."

"No, not everything Sephiroth. This right here." She squeezed his hands. "This is only you."

He smiled his sorrow for her sake and replied, "Well my strong will made things far worse when it was twisted by an alien desire for purposes you too well know."

The flower girl looked up through chestnut bangs. "You should…just try to command me to see if it's inherent. Just something you want me to do."

_What I want you to do I could never command. That would be more wrong than what I _have _wrought. _But he raised his head as his hair slid aside, released her hands and said, "Come here, Aeris."

In the little Cetra's heart the Planet thrummed slow as it whispered _Go to him, child. _She stood without hesitation, trailing her fingers along the table as she walked. Thorn thin pupils followed her motion, the innocent sway of her step, but he half-veiled his eyes in quiet surprise when she climbed onto his lap. Around her as always he circled his arms to pull the flower girl close, and Aeris breathed deep where the smell of leather mixed with winter skin.

"Why did you obey me, little one?" he asked.

"Because I wanted to…"

Sephiroth shook his head and silver locks slid slowly over her breast, caressing the pale flesh that was exposed as he clenched his unworthy hands. "You enjoy playing games with corruption, don't you?"

"I enjoy being with you."

"You…enjoy feeling safe and protected," he tried again to rationalize.

Aeris peered up through the moonlit cascade. "All because of you, Sephiroth." The former general shut his eyes to her sweet voice saying his name. He didn't deserve that, not from her, this innocent rose he had slaughtered. Aeris felt his agony as she twirled a lock of his hair. "Do you know what it means to be sitting here…in this beautiful place with you? A week ago I couldn't remember the sun or even dream the sky held such stars, but because of you I not only see that they're true, but I'm allowed to bask in their light."

"You're not going to let me hate myself, are you?" he whispered down in awe.

"Never." The flower maid touched his cheek. "I won't because you don't deserve it."

For just an instant hope gleamed softly in the corner of Mako eyes, and just as quickly the dark past crushed it, but he could not forget it had bloomed. Aeris gazed up and wet her lips, and he knew what she was expecting, but it was difficult enough to ignore her warmth as he desperately searched for distraction.

On the tray by the side a small platter glistened, weeping as though sad to be ignored. Sephiroth cupped it like a brandy glass, slightly distracted from his desire. He registered the cold against his palm, though it didn't dim his heat. Placing the platter down, he lifted the lid wondering what else their host had brought. Inside was a creamy delicacy slightly melted with rounded tops like furrowed snow.

The flower girl gasped with both hands to her mouth, and Sephiroth looked down at her oddly.

"What is it, Aeris?" He cocked his head to the side, looking between her and the strange desert.

The Cetra grabbed his hand and smiled wide to the apples of her cheeks. "Don't tell me you don't know what this is!" Sephiroth raised a brow with a slight shake of his head.

"Oh…dear…gods even _I've _had ice cream and I'm just a poor slum girl."

He resisted the urge to remind his little flower that she was the true daughter of the Planet saying instead, "Remember, Aeris, I wasn't allowed to have anything sweet." He closed his eyes but memory could not be shut out as his lips became a thin line. "They…taunted me with it, though they called it a test. Something about 'negative aversion.' I was placed in a room with a table over laden with what could only be a child's sweet feast. I could approach. I could even sit down, but the instant a morsel passed through my lips, I was shocked into unconsciousness. I will tell you, little one…that's no short journey, and when I woke I was shocked again. The collar they'd locked around my neck made the one in the slums like a brush of your lips."

Aeris was crying into his chest, and he regretfully stroked her soft hair. She clenched her fists in helpless anger, as he swept chestnut waves from her face. "Why must your past make _everything_ awful?"

"I told you I wasn't made to be happy, little one, and their 'treatment' did work. Even as an adult I had no taste for sweets. I didn't think of them again until the hotel in Kalm."

She sat up and fiercely wiped her face, glaring up at the memory he still wore. "This is basically the best thing that you'll ever taste. It's like…frozen heaven on your tongue."

"Somehow I doubt that, little flower," he murmured while thumbing her open lips.

"W-Well…" Aeris stuttered, "i-it's the best thing that you'll ever eat then."

One brow went up. "We could argue about that, too, little one, but the conversation would not be polite. Let me taste what you've so highly praised."

He took one of the spoons and scooped some of it up, cool vanilla to sweat between flames. To Aeris's surprise he brought it to her, but she wouldn't refuse the offer. Shutting her eyes she cleaned the spoon, before the kiss caught her from above. He glided his tongue along her own to not miss an ounce of taste. This moment battled the dark past behind as he covered her cheek with his palm. Sephiroth swallowed the cold from her tongue and lips until they warmed beneath his mouth, tilting up her chin he nibbled the remnants as Aeris remembered how to breathe.

"Little flower," he murmured, "you may just be right, but I need another taste to know." Her lips were half parted as she leaned against him no strength in her now to sit up, but she took the chilled offering, holding half in her mouth as he bent to her again. Slowly he spun his tongue against hers as the borrowed sweetness filled them both. He buried a hand beneath her soft hair so he could reach deeper within. The soft moan from her throat pierced through memory as her fingers spun around his long bangs. Running the tip of his tongue over her lips, Sephiroth lifted his head so trailing silver licked soft over her skin.

"Let me have a taste," Aeris whispered and she took the spoon this time. He half smiled as she lifted it high, but allowed sweet frost coat his tongue. Then she reached up to throw her arms around his neck as he lowered his brow to hers. She pressed her rouged lips hard to his, and Sephiroth answered her full. Sliding his hands between her shoulder blades, he awoke a tremor at his touch. Ever cautiously his hands traveled downward to circle her waist, while Aeris slid fingers through his always smooth hair, the sweetness still staining their tongues. Each bite of the treat yielding this higher taste that was too delicious to swallow, and by the time it was done, jade seared through the dim left by the now crackling candles. He slanted his mouth over hers just to be sure no remnants of ice cream remained, kissing her so incredibly gently yet with such power it brought her to tears. Then he rose with the flower maid in his arms and only one thought in his mind.

When the bed came to his view Sephiroth stilled in stark shock. Aeris was kissing his brow and cheeks as his eyes seared that canopied king. He turned to her with lowered head as her soft lips pressed to his.

"I'm sure you'll want to shower now," he reminded the flower girl. She blinked confused at his sudden chagrin for that had long been forgotten.

"I…I suppose," the little Cetra acquiesced. "It is getting late."

Sephiroth slowly put her down trailing his hands along her waist, and Aeris looked still back and up with wonder on her face for his height.

"I really do love looking up at you," she said, "and I love feeling safe in your arms." He had to honor her words by wrapping her in them as she shut her eyes to utter bliss. "Alright…" Aeris patted his hand and he let her go, though only she sighed for the loss.

The once general dimmed his hearing for the water's soft flow, but he could still hear her singing. Chestnut hair would be plastered to her pale thighs as soap trickled between her breasts… He whirled to return to the dining room, narrowing eyes on the broken wine cup. Finding a paper pad and pen, he wrote, _I broke a wineglass. Please accept my regret and take the portion out of the bill. _Sticking it on the table as her voice rose in crescendo to an obviously well known song. Sephiroth shook his hair out of his face and returned to the main room. Stars painted the huge bay window as if begging to be allowed in. He opened it to a welcoming breeze though it didn't stir the heat from his face. Her travel bag was sitting near the bed and Sephiroth remembered her book. He could read to her again, an enjoyable act with a far less dangerous ending. Opening the satchel, he peered within, and emerald froze at flash of pink.

It was wrapped in clear plastic and still bore her old blood, which was as faded as the fabric. He held it up to his eyes and saw the great rent that had torn all the way through. _Why would she bring this? Why bear this pain? She could've left this memory in Midgar. _He did not tremble for he was too strong, but a shock to his neck would hurt less. _This memory is for her. It's not for me. I shouldn't have looked through her bag. _He put the dress back as it had been before and sat on the ledge to wait.

Aeris's skin was pinkened by heat as her hair was dried by the same. Her nightdress covered her, but he could imagine the perfection that lay beneath. She looked troubled for a moment til she caught sight of his darkness near the window side. The little maid hurried over and clutched his hands, and Sephiroth stood up as she pulled. Bemused as she led him to the bed and sat beside him there.

Aeris leaned against his arm and ran her fingers through silver light. The breeze from the sea blew salt scented night to tangle their bangs together. He bent down to kiss the top of her head where the smell of damp summer still clung. The Cetra shut her eyes as he shook his hair back and it swept across her cheeks.

"I can read to you again from your book of poems, that one you seem so fond of."

Aeris sighed, glancing down to her bag. "No…I've read through it so many times and that poem so many more. It's incredibly old. The title of the volume was long worn away before I was even born. Even the name of the poem on the page and the author are too faded to see."

He cocked his head at that.

"Yes, I think even for you, Sephiroth. Light can only see what's there. I think it's a love song of some sort, not a happy one though, more forlorn. But there's a certain whimsy in it. It's as though the poet recognized pretense and revels in its poignant embrace."

"I could certainly tell you of pretense, Aeris." He laid his hand over hers as he turned to the window. "I lived with that most of my life."

"What do you mean?"

"Among the elite," Sephiroth sighed and looked back at her, "pretense is more common than air."

"Tell me about it…" Her voice had grown small as if asking for the shyest secret.

"Tell you about what?"

"Tell me something I could never know…" She almost begged and Sephiroth lowered his lids. "Tell me what it's like to be elite."

"You _are _elite, little flower." He softly squeezed her hands.

"You know what I mean, Sephiroth…I mean life above the plate."

_The past will always haunt us. _He lowered his head to press against hers, stirring memory behind bright eyes. "If life it could be called. Isn't it strange, Aeris? There's no real life in Midgar. Below the plate you rot. Above the plate you flaunt and no one truly lives."

"Was it really that terrible?" Her face was stricken and he gently laid a hand to her cheek.

"Terrible? No, little flower. It was just a game nobody wanted to play."

"Then why did you play it?"

He could only smile and shake his head at how innocent she was. _You would be horrible at such a game, and that alone makes you beautiful. _"It was just what you did in order to survive, as if survival were all you could hope for. It was always a show, an ever performance and the foundation was rot and greed. Once you learned the steps of the dance, you were always sliding around it, trying to avoid getting too much on your skin. Corruption was everywhere, hidden beneath perfectly manicured hands and festering in the wine of every toast. You have to understand Aeris." He tightened his grip but was still ever careful as she looked up. "They _knew _what they were doing. Never have doubt of that. They knew they were killing the Planet." He shrugged. "But it was profitable so why would they care?"

"I was always afraid of that…" she whispered as her dear friend soothed her mind.

"And those who could afford to live above never gave a thought to the true cost."

"Wh-What did the elite think of the slums?"

"They didn't think of them at all." He rubbed her hands softly, as Mako light cut through his lashes. "It was all just accepted. There were people below, and they lived down in darkness, but suffered in silence so none could see."

"There are children." Aeris's voice became sharp as his sword. "Children who were born and died down there without ever once seeing the sky. They live there still. They're different but same, and nobody even _cared_?!"

"Yes…" he admitted with his head bowed again as though this, too, were his guilt. "I know this, little one. I saw them the day I rescued you, but none of that mattered above. So long as they didn't see it, it didn't exist. It was all so pretentious, so foolish, so fake, and I played my part, as well. When in Midgar I took off my killer's mask and put on my elite. They look remarkably similar, but it was a necessary change for there were functions to attend."

Aeris's anger melted into a surprising storm of giggles. "I'm sure you would've had at least one or two ladies hanging off both your arms." Even in the midst of everything, she grinned brightly up at him. "I couldn't imagine you having any trouble with _that. _They must've fought tooth and nail just to catch your attention." Her smile dropped like a paralyzed bird as she bowed her head blinking hard. "I'm sure they were lovely though and very well dressed. You wouldn't even look twice at someone like me…"

Sephiroth tilted her chin to his gaze and emerald full seared her face. "No, Aeris, I wouldn't look twice. At first glimpse I would be caught." He bent forward and kissed her brow, hiding the memory of what he'd been told. _They'll say you're beautiful. They'll want your attention, but they will never love you. I wouldn't learn why until much later, but by then my soul was lost. Beauty isn't for you and neither is love. No one could love a monster. Your own mother fled from your sight._

"I just can't believe," she breathed out slowly as the press of his lips cooled her brow, "that no one up there cared a bit about those down below."

He half smiled again to her innocence in thinking the best of the world. "There were some," he began and she peered up in hope and he sighed to have given it false. "I don't know if it was because they cared or because they couldn't live with not caring, but they would leave Midgar and everything it stood for never to return. I know because careful track was kept of such things. Who stayed, who left, who died. I myself was happy to go out on campaigns and be the general in more than just name." He rubbed her hands as if in apology to his next words. "There's nothing quite so real as blood, and that's life's greatest horror."

"I…" Aeris swallowed searching his face, but still seeing only what he was now. "I bet no one ever questioned you when you gave commands."

"No, little flower. No one did. My orders were absolute." The smile was crooked on perfect lips. "You're the first to ever question, admonish, or defy. It's…" He peered beyond her through the wall, expression still in concentration. "It's refreshing though I don't agree with your limitless grace." She squeezed his hands to his soft laughter. "Are you trying to hurt me, little flower?"

Aeris clicked her tongue. "You know I wouldn't nor am I able. Not in this way at least."

He kissed her cheek as his hair stroked her skin, a sensuous whisper on her throat. The Cetra gasped and he only didn't smile because memory weighed him down.

"My…last mission, you know which one, was truly supposed to be that. Going insane was not my preferred method of retirement. I was tired of my employers. Tired of greed. Tired of corruption, yet I became the most corrupt. I became what I hated. Then I hated everything in turn."

"You let the dark in," she whispered, "because you believed it was special, but now…" She just smiled and even in Mako light it was the purest thing he'd ever seen. Aeris almost didn't get her hands free in time to cover up the yawn, and the clock on the night stand revealed the late hour and guilt cloaked him for keeping her awake. The flower girl leaned against Sephiroth's side, and he just couldn't leave her yet. Wrapping the small maid in his arms, the former general scooped her up as he stood. A humming sigh was his reward as she full sank against his chest. Cradling her in one arm, he pulled back the bed clothes and went to lay Aeris down. Before her could slim arms stirred to slide around his neck. Sephiroth couldn't see her expression, but could imagine how she clung with stubbornness far surpassing her strength.

"Do you want me to hold you, Aeris," he asked, "until you fall asleep?"

"No," she insisted tightening her grip. "I want you to hold me while I do."

She shook soft chestnut waves away, and Sephiroth slowly blinked. "If that's what you wish, little flower," he murmured. He laid her down and stood above for long moments. The joke had to be hidden somewhere in her face, but Aeris was as genuine as ever before so he climbed in by her side. Slipping one arm beneath and the other above, he pulled her back into him warmth. "Is this alright, little one?" he questioned looking down in some concern.

"It's more than 'alright,' Sephiroth," she assured him, tilting back to see his face. "Every day I'm with you I somehow or other end up in your arms."

"I'm luckier than I deserve to be for that, Aeris."

"I don't think you're the lucky one."

Sephiroth carefully tightened his grip, and Aeris laid her palms on his arms smiling in joy he couldn't fathom. Jade light burned through half-veiled lids as she wriggled herself even closer. He wanted her more than godhood and glory, though _he'd _never wanted those things, but then he looked at his hands, his bloodstained hands, and knew it could never be. Lifting one up he snapped his fingers and all lights but the stars went out.

"You should go to sleep, little flower."

"I know…I should." But she turned to kiss him instead. Green fire roiled between his lashes as her mouth slanted over his, and as before he led the dance after she began it. Aeris ran fingers through sea foam smooth hair as his hands locked at the small of her back. She gave a squeak as his mouth found her neck and he rolled himself above her. Pinning her wrists above her head with one hand, he bathed her in Mako light. Her lips were parted and blushing from kiss, her eyes shut as she waited for more, but Sephiroth froze like his skin's flawless marble for what was revealed before.

The buttons of her night dress had parted from embrace with only two still holding. They were at her breast, but it was enough for him to see the flower girl wore no bra. Below that in splendor for his unblinking view was her exposed and minute waist. It flared out to welcome wider hip, and he thanked whatever gods would listen that she wore underwear. _I shouldn't be looking, _he thought in guilt, but couldn't bring himself to turn away. _I shouldn't be allowed to be anywhere near this perfect, innocent rose._

"Little one…" he whispered and she smiled up through silver hair fallen like snow. He released her wrists and indicated her bareness.

"Oh!" Aeris gasped and he saw now her blush went much farther down than her face. She went to cover herself 'til she saw gleaming green and her reflection in their light. Sephiroth slipped back to his side, but in his eyes she did remain. Aeris laid a soft palm over his hand and to his surprise took his wrist in her grasp. Her let her lift it and slivers tracked the motion of her placing it on her waist. Never was there smoother skin that lay beneath his palm, and the former general pulled her close, sliding his hand to the small of her back.

"What would your friends say if they could see this? If they saw you…with me?"

"I really don't care," Aeris declared. "If they knew the truth. If they knew what you'd endured…"

"That doesn't erase what I did." He touched her face to draw her gaze back up. "They would always hate me, Aeris. There is no changing that. I deserve it all as I deserve the enmity of the people of Midgar."

"Those things don't matter anymore!" she insisted, laying fists to his leather clad shoulders. "They don't…they don't matter at all." She buried her face in the crook of his neck and Sephiroth wrapped his arms around.. If it wasn't for his enhanced hearing, he wouldn't have caught it, so muffled in leather and skin. "I think…I think I'm falling for you…"

"Oh, little one…" he whispered, forcing the words. "You've just been lonely for far too long. You'll be amongst people soon. Someplace safe and somewhere beautiful. I'll take you there just as I promised, and you'll need a monster no more…"

"Stop it! Stop doing that to yourself! You'll _never_ be a monster to me."

Sephiroth slid his fingers slow through her hair before she blessed his hand with her lips. "I'm already fallen, little flower. You don't want to follow that path."

Aeris answered his grief with hope shining in her summer eyes. She reached up to bestow one final kiss before nestling herself against his chest, asleep long before the first flash of white melted in emerald green.

* * *

_Author's Note: There was no way I was going to have him kill her again. History doesn't repeat itself in that way here. Thank you all for all your kind comments, messages, and reviews. The next chapter will be posted next Friday as per usual. It is titled **A Heart Made for War. **Until then!_


	10. A Heart Made for War

"**Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word."**

**\- George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones **

**Chapter 10**

**A Heart Made for War**

The voice of the sky crashed through the night and tried to tear cracks in the walls. Rain lashed and spattered the window ledge so rich red turned the color of blood. The wind streaked an icy hand through the veil and Aeris shrieked and clung tight to his neck. Confused, Sephiroth looked down to witness her summer eyes tightly closed. Her breath conjured sleep even as her heart raced, and another crack increased its tremor. The former general kissed her soft on the brow, making to rise and shut out the storm, but her swift sob stilled him in place when he tried to untangle her fingers.

"No, no, please don't leave me," she begged him. "Don't ever leave me again."

"I'm not going to leave you, Aeris," he promised, halving his eyes as the light behind swirled. The sky crackled and hissed like a snake in the flames before booming with loud, mocking laughter. The little Cetra wailed, curling into his chest, and though muffled he still heard her cries.

"No, no, please don't!"

Sephiroth stroked her cheek with the back of his hand as her tears trembled on leather black. Crooked, icy fingers dripped through the sky, clutching the clouds as they roared at release. Aeris's sobs tried to best heaven's fury, her arms locked around his neck. He couldn't leave her like this even for a moment, so swept her up and walked to the window. The maid's eyes were shut, but warm salt was defiant to paint harsh lines on her cheeks. Holding her in one arm, the once general reached out and closed the pane as the skies spoke their spleen.

"No, please don't hurt me!" she whimpered and in white fire Sephiroth froze.

"Aeris," he whispered. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'll never hurt you again."

"_Please_ don't rape me," she sobbed into his neck, while rain brutally slashed the windows. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wander down here alone…"

Sephiroth jerked his gaze down with emerald burning the mask. "I'm not going to rape you, Aeris," he whispered, but she continued to violently quake. Heartrending sobs seeped over the leather as the storm stirred and boiled the sky. The once general wrapped her tight in his arms and pressed his head against hers.

"I didn't mean to…please let me go. I'll never come back here again. Just don't—" She screamed and flung up small hands as though to ward off a blow.

"Aeris!" The power in his voice left the flower girl in quiver with her breath a rushing gasp. He hated using such authority with her as the guilt shut emerald eyes. "I have you, little one. I promise you're safe. I swear on my true mother's name." _She's trembling and terrified here in the dark, and I'm all she has for comfort…_

"Who…who is that?" She lowered still shaking hands and her eyes moved behind closed lids.

"It's… me." He didn't want to say his curséd name, but she shivered in his silence. "Sephiroth…"

"Oh!" Aeris opened her eyes. Her pupils were tiny and the once general wondered if she could actually see. "Oh, it's you."

"Yes, little flower. It's me."

How she'd contained the sigh that shook her small form, Sephiroth would never know. "It's you…" She blinked as awareness dawned upon her surrounded by leather and winter skin. Her little body near melted within his embrace, and the once general hid his awe in the dark.

"_You_ have me." She clutched his solid shoulders. "I've been in your arms all along." Her eyes gleamed white as they darted up. "Please don't let them rape me, Sephiroth."

"Aeris, I will neverlet anyone rape you. That is…beyond abomination." He tightened his grip around the maid, and all her shivering ceased. She blinked quickly as moon whitened silver whispered over her face.

"You…you won't?"

"No, little flower. You're safe in my arms. No one can hurt you now."

"I-If anyone tried, you'd…be right there will all your strength and glory?"

"That's right," he assured her, smiling gently and not arguing the last. "In all of this world there has never been a little maid more safe."

"Are you…" she choked out around swallowed tears, "really as strong as Cloud said?"

"No, little one." Sephiroth shook his head. "I am far stronger than that…"

"You _promise _you won't let them hurt me?" She stared straight into his slivered pupils with emerald ever lit.

"Aeris…" His low voice rolled soft through her, drawing power from the air. "I swear by the blood in my veins, the breath in my throat, and the light that lives in my eyes, no one will ever hurt you again. You are under my protection and anyone who tries will pay in bitter rue."

"Hero…" She whispered in the dark, blind to his utter pain. "That should be my name for you. My hero," she breathed so soft.  
"You're still dreaming, Aeris." His voice didn't break only due to the will behind it. "A far nicer one than your last."

"My hero…" she repeated and then she yawned to re-close summer eyes. Laying her head against his chest, Aeris fell into peaceful sleep. Flowers now grew behind her lids, and the little maid smiled in the sun.

Sephiroth could not shield his shock nor cover his endless grief, but he was tasked to carry her back to bed and lay down by her side. The flower maid curled towards him breathing deep, and the once general kissed her crown. _What grace has been given me?_ He veiled emerald light against the darkness and didn't move til she woke the next morning.

Sunlight blurred through the streaks left behind as the storm blew away to the north. His eyes looked full closed and lashes resplendent splayed against his cheeks, but even in day she saw that green glow simmering across the seams in his lids.

"You're not sleeping, are you?" Aeris asked.

"No, little flower." He kept his lids sealed. "Sleep is for the innocent. I didn't want you to be frightened if you woke again in the night. There was terror enough for you in your dreams without my baleful eyes adding fuel."

Her small body shushed against the sheets as she pulled herself closer. Sephiroth enclosed her in his arms and rested his chin on her head. The summer scent spoke of endless green leaves and fields that could hold no more flowers. He smiled though she couldn't see, thinking blindness would be worth this small moment.

"I…woke during the night?" His joy tore apart as he gazed down to her wrinkled brow.

"You…don't remember, Aeris?" Locks of soft hair had tumbled over her face, and Sephiroth cleared them away. She frowned and shook her head at the question, and her protector lowered his head.

"It was bad…wasn't it?" the little Cetra asked.

He nodded running quick fingers through silver to push his bangs aside.

"Will you tell me anyway?"

"Why would you want to face a horror that you need never know?"

"You've told me yours," she answered him softly. "It's only fair that I should know mine."

He could never deny his little flower so granted her request. Aeris was curled against his chest when the darkness was full told, but she lifted her head with gratitude swimming in the depths of summer green.

"You stayed by my side…"

"Of course I did. I couldn't leave you like that."

"You could, but you didn't."

"No I couldn't, my flower. What kind of protector would I be if I did?"

She smiled at that, and he tilted his head, confused at this sudden mirth.

"What is it, little one?"

"You called yourself 'protector,' instead of 'monster' or 'murderer.'"

"I am still those things." Sephiroth bowed his head. "That will never change, but…I do protect you now." Endless green spread its light on her face. "I can't kill your nightmares, but at least I can be a lesser one when you awake." His unblinking gaze captured expression that pierced his broken heart. "Please, little one…have mercy," he begged. "You mustn't look at me like that."

"Look at you like what?" But the flower girl knew as her fingers grazed his cheek.

"Like I'm a hero."

She smiled at him, bright without pity because she did truly believe. "Well, I'm sorry, Sephiroth, but that's what you are. You're going to have to accept it."

"This adoration is unwarranted." He caught her small fingers, closing them all in his hand. Aeris half smiled at his unique phrasing, enjoying the warmth of his palm. Though her fingers were immobilized, he was always so careful and made sure never to squeeze too tight.

"How is it 'unwarranted?'" She tugged at her hand and he immediately released. "You saved me from rapists. You brought me out of the slums. You pulled me from the horror you know too well…"

She shuddered and he held her closer, but still shook his head all the same. "Aeris, I could save you a thousand times and still never find redemption. All of the selfless deeds in the world won't forgive my terrible acts." He touched her cheek and she lifted her face to shine brighter in his light. "And if you have any mercy, my little flower, you will not name me 'your hero.' I don't deserve it and I can't take not in forever or today."

Grief swam soft in summer eyes and Sephiroth regretted his words. _But what else is the fallen but regret? Rather that than let her court fallacy._

"Well…" She bit her lip and dark lashes obscured the emerald. "I suppose I could call you the 'great' or the 'beautiful." She grinned, but did not mock. "You were once called the Great Sephiroth and you most certainly are beautiful."

The former general sighed and shook his head again.

"Really?" she asked. "Even thatyou won't accept?" She let his visage fill her vision as her lips parted with her awe.

He lifted a brow and resisted the urge to kiss her until the sun burned the sea. "There's nothing great about me, Aeris, and beauty isn't for monsters." He slid his hand down her check where his palm brushed her neck, and the Cetra arched her back with a gasp.

"Just more proof that you aren't one…" She kissed his palm still looking up. "I just…can't understand how anyone could be this gorgeous…and you don't even think you are." His lids descended lower so green lit his cheeks and within splendor on white brushed those lashes. Aeris couldn't resist and ran a thumb against the fringe. "These can't be real, but I know they are…I'd trade my book of poems for a fraction."

"That would be a poor exchange, Aeris," he murmured looking up. He still never blinked as her small fingers stirred the tines on his lower lid. They were just as long and if he did dare to shut, he could catch a snowflake in between. Taking her hand with extra care he threaded their fingers together.

"It's like…" she pondered as concentration slipped. "It's like every aspect of you is perfection."

He sighed again.

"See!" She tilted her face up to his and a mere breath would close the distance. "You don't even have morning breath." Sephiroth couldn't help but laugh so low as that breath disappeared between. He asked permission by tracing the shape of her lips before entering them so slow. Pulling her up onto his chest, he held her tight as her hair spilled around. The fragrant waves were caught in one hand, as a little sound fluttered her throat. Sephiroth sat up completely with her on his lap and his brow pressed tight to hers. The river of silver had wrapped her round as readily as his arms, and Aeris laughed within its spill, reaching up for another taste.

"I can't believe how it never tangles," she whispered sliding fingers through. Despite the night it still flowed smooth and smelled so good she could've swooned. Grinning a bit mischievously, the flower girl caught sight of her pink ribbon and leaned over to catch its end.

"What are you doing, Aeris?" he said between his teeth, but the flower girl just tossed chestnut locks from her face, playful smile warming her lips. He bent to that teasing intruder, letting it spread across his own as slim arms went around his neck and her body bent into his. Aeris splayed against his chest, and the once general tilted his head to the side. The pride couldn't flourish over the rue, but neither stopped her when Aeris reached up to bind silver in fraying tie.

"Really, little flower?" He shook his head so the long tail slid over leather. "I doubt such flourish looks half so fair on me compared to you."

"I woke in my church with this ribbon, you know…" Her gaze flicked to an unseen past. Sephiroth wondered if she remembered the recent or the far gone when blood had stained other pink. Not three feet away it dwelled so hidden by her mundane travel bag.

"And you sully your memory by placing it on me."

"You don't 'sully my memory,' Sephiroth." She nestled close to him so her protector held her tight once more. Aeris looked up to his face now empty and long hair tied in pale queue. "It doesn't change anything…you still look so sad." And he regretted his sorrow only because it made his flower upset.

A knock that was both polite and expectant brought a blessed distracted. Sephiroth lifted Aeris off of his lap and back onto the bed. She folded her legs beneath and it took all he had to go and answer the summons. It was the cheerful bellhop of course with a breakfast cart now in tow. "Morning sir and miss," he said above the clatter of crooked wheels that were many years old. "Sorry it's late. The cook likes his sleep and is harder to wake than a stone." The former general raised a brow and took a quick glance out the window where daylight pulsed rosy with dawn. The bellhop went about his work with a whistle, clearing the table of last night's diner and setting it with morning's repast. If he noticed how his guest was now adorned, he gave no outward sign.

Aeris slipped off the bed to change, but before her egress Sephiroth noticed the pink spots on her cheeks. Leaning against the wall with folded arms, he asked, "Do you have a shop that would sell sun protection?"

"Of course," the man said as he straightened the coffee pot and set the cream by its side. "I'll fetch some for you."

"That won't be necessary. We'll pick it up on our way out."

"Oh no, sir, I insist." The bellhop said and Sephiroth shrugged before reaching for gil. As his host went to take it, the once general held tight, looking down at the smaller man.

"This place called 'the Whispers.' You say it lies south?" Emerald green washed astonishment.

"Y-Yes, sir, it does." He wanted to blink or avert his gaze, but was frightened of what would result.

Sephiroth, in some shame, let go of the money, and the bellhop caught himself stumbling back. "How far would you say?"

"About half a day on foot since the train's not yet running." He was relieved as his guest cocked his head. Shakily stowing the gil in his pocket, he glanced out the large bay window. "You just follow the shore and you'll easily find it. I think that you'll both like it there."

"I certainly hope she does."

When Aeris reappeared dressed for the day, Sephiroth was sipping coffee. Legs crossed he stared into the darkest of shadows though the window crowned him in light. He smiled behind his cup for her dress was the same brown and she still shone through its drabness. Her hair was braided, but her bangs were free, and he stood unknotting the ribbon. Silver splendor washed down his back as he went to pull out her chair. When the little Cetra sat, her protector bound the top of her braid with pink. Running the rope within his palm, he tightened his grip at the bottom, and she gave a sharp gasp as he pulled. It tilted her face up for his smooth, claiming kiss full of vanilla despite the coffee.

"You were right about that, my little flower," he murmured. "Braided hair is far easier to grab." He crouched by her chair so their bangs tangled together and she slid a small hand through silver light. _I'm haunted by the past and bound by the future when all I want is this very now. _The bowed head confused her in all it contained as Sephiroth rose to let her eat. The repast included hot, buttered toast and a fruit platter of beloved strawberries.

"Just think, little flower," he said drinking tea now, which she readily joined in enjoying. "Wherever you end up, I'm sure you can have your fill of these every day." It made him smile to envision her basking in life instead of rotting in the slums.

"The Whispers, right, like the bellhop said."

"Yes. I'll take you there today."

Aeris tapped the fork on her half empty plate, brow wrinkled as she remembered. "But…the Whispers are south and you need to go north-"

"That doesn't matter, Aeris," he assured her, loosely holding his cup. "You're my first priority…and the dead can always wait. It's what they're best at. Waiting and haunting our memories. I'm haunted by the memory of a woman I never knew…" His thoughts had formed word without his behest and swirled dark as the dregs of cold tea. "I wonder if that's even possible."

"You can be haunted by what you think it should be and tortured by its absence."

"It's not really a memory then, is it?" Sephiroth glanced up and she froze in rueful jade light. "It's…just an empty ideal. Although I must've seen her at least at one point. I just…never knew that I did."

"I think that's the most wrenching thing of all," she whispered. "To see and never know, but…I don't think you ever saw her. She couldn't bear the pain. That's what I was told and she ran away not long after you were born." Aeris bit her lip and lifted her eyes, and he fought to maintain the mask. "Do I still haunt you, Sephiroth?"

He set the cup down and bowed his head. "You will haunt me 'til the death of time."

She shuddered. "I never thought I'd be alive again and even then be a ghost."

He reached across for her tiny hand, real and fragile within his fingers. "It's memory that haunts me, little one. Memory, blood, and death…and this is terrible breakfast conversation." He was more than happy for the knock of interruption and went to meet the bellhop again at the door.

"It's the strongest one we have, sir," the man said, handing over the requested tube. "I figured, well…" He looked between the two of them with their skins to darken snow.

"It's for her, not me." Aeris blushed at the table, her face full of gratitude.

"Alright…well, take your time coming down." He winked to Sephiroth's scrutiny. "Checkout's whenever you wish. We're not going to quibble with our only guests."

When they were alone again Aeris caught his hands and looked up to whisper, "Thank you."

"I said I'd protect you, didn't I? And the sun can be dangerous on the shore." He laid a palm upon her cheek. "You already have a little more pink than can be considered just blush." And then he smiled as beneath his palm her soft skin fulfilled his words.

He replaced his epaulets and she tried not to watch, but he was framed in the window's gleam. A proud man would've done such on purpose, but she knew Sephiroth didn't care. He could've been a statue for such alabaster skin with each muscle so cut to perfection. Sweeping the long coat back over his shoulders, he snapped the straps and fastened the buckles. The high boots were pulled on and the silver bindings shimmered, but could not rival that shining hair. He reached into a pocket to retrieve black, leather gloves, and Aeris quelled her disappointment. When he pulled them on though, his fingers were bare, and the flower girl smiled again.

Aeris kept her own coat unbuttoned as she picked up her travel bag. She wanted the sea breeze to raise bumps on her skin so the sun could ease them away. The cold of the sands was not the chill of the slums, and she yearned to revel in the difference.

"Shall we go then, little flower?"

"_Let us go then, you and I..." _

Sephiroth, laughing soft and low, took her hand where leather and skin melded together and nothing could rival that heat. He caught her other hand in his, and Aeris suddenly froze.

"A-Are we going to sidestep there?"

The once general bowed his head as her fear cut him deep. "I wouldn't do such even if I could. I can only sidestep to places I've been before, and the Whispers are unknown."

Aeris sighed with relief and then felt terrible. It wasn't his fault what had occurred in between, but he squeezed her fingers needing no explanation.

The desk clerk was drowsy to the end of his shift and yawned while checking them out. He tried not to blink under neon green, but was wide eyed for the generous tip. Costa del Sol was still just as quiet as if the town hushed for the sea on the shore. The murmur of waters was ever pervasive, and Aeris half-wished that she could stay here, but she was tired of silence and said a quick prayer that a whisper would be enough.

The storm had left only a palette of cirrus to wisp along beside the sun. That bright, unblocked orb made the sands glimmer as the ocean washed the shine from the shore. It was an endless battle and Aeris felt the heat on her face, looking at her protector in gratitude. A world made of colors could not be for him, he walked in monochrome. _It's as though he always stands in between. Here in this world and without._

A sharp gust from the north ripped Aeris's braid forward and the flower girl hunched in her coat.

"You'd think it be warmer since we're going south."

"Are you cold, Aeris?" Sephiroth glanced down sharply, but she reassured him with a smile.

"I'm alright…I actually like it. It's a nice balance between sun and wind."

The former general gazed out on the sulky grey waves as cliffs rose to the west of the waters, but when Aeris slipped her hand from his, its absence was all he could feel. She crouched to unlace and abandon her boots before greeting the lapping waves. The sea was so cold it tingled her toes, but Aeris enjoyed the shiver. She held her drab dress up to her knees so the salt could cleanse her legs. Wet sand slithered against her skin and she giggled as her feet sunk deep. The never ending rush and crash of the ocean was the lullaby for the shore. The sun tried to awaken, but the sea called it back to sleep and dream eternal. Through foam cool and gurgling, Aeris stepped and the hue brought her gaze back to land. Sephiroth wore no clear expression as his hair sailed soft in the wind. The sun did nothing to mar flawless pale, as she felt the heat past her protection. Caressing her ankles, the waves enticed her to stay, but the flower girl escaped now ignoring the sea that roared behind her for this loss.

Heels and toes soon shimmered with sand, and Aeris laughed as it buried her feet. Still clutching her dress, she fought the shore's shift as it scraped the skin of her soles. _She's running towards me, _Sephiroth thought, _when by all rights she should run away…_

"And did you enjoy your cavort, little flower?" he asked, while hiding her small hands in his.

She peered around for her shoes and swept them, opting for sandy bare feet. Sephiroth took them for she already had her travel bag to carry. Leaning against his arm as they continued to walk, Aeris missed his happiness mixed with pain.

"I did…oh, how I've dreamed of the sea. It could wash all of Midgar clean."

He had to keep his step measured to match slower pace. Beauty softened at innocence, as Aeris grinned brightly with eyes shut in the world of her thoughts. The salt air, though cold, reminded her of freedom with every full drawn breath, and though she was blind, she need never fear for her protector was right beside.

"I hope the Whispers are what you seek, little one." He passed a palm down her braid. "This should be your joy every day. You should be able to wander where you want with no fear of what haunts the night."

"You're right," she assented, opening her eyes. "But that's just not how it is, at least not in the slums. But…" she considered. "I'm not there now…I'm here on the shore with you. I wouldn't be able to see this beautiful place if it wasn't for you, Sephiroth." She took his hand between her two palms and kissed the exposed fingers. Sephiroth gazed down in hidden wonder letting those same fingers lift her chin. "You deserve so much of my gratitude."

"I deserve nothing." His thumb traced her lips unable to resist. "I have obligation, but seeing you like this, seeing you so happy…it brings me the semblance of joy."

"Only the semblance?" She stepped right before him, her toes sinking into warmth.

"Even the semblance is more than I deserve." His free arm locked around her waist, heat causing the emerald to burn. "I want to see you happy and only hope my selfish want won't steal your joy away…" He lowered his head and claimed her lips as the waves faded to mere murmur. The north wind spilled silver and chestnut around to mark this sweet communion. It shivered her skin and made him remember what he had no right to forget. The kiss on her brow reaffirmed his protection and her skin made the sun block taste sweet.

It was late afternoon when they saw their first windmill, almost blending in with the sand. The overcast sky had halved the deep blue and lent strength to icy north bluster, but the wind served its purpose to spin circling blades on a tall and skinny pole. Aeris approached as Sephiroth watched, while the Planet hummed beneath. _What is this, dear friend? _But she received no answer only soft laughter like tinkling bells. Other windmills soft dotted and they started to see a hint of emerging lights. The little Cetra squeezed tight her protector's hand not quite cautious enough for fear.

"Do you…smell a reactor around here, Sephiroth? The Planet's being petulant." She dug in a heel to gentle song that neither made sense nor rhymed.

He closed his eyes and sniffed the breeze as it streamed silver and black. Opening them full to light on her face with day meandering toward the horizon. "All I smell is salt and summer, the endless sea and you." Aeris closed her eyes, too, and tried to catch but could only smell ocean and sand. She stopped when the gulls announced evening was present in worry she was being mocked.

Sand walking is tiresome without any shoes, though Aeris had barely noticed. To be traversing ground that wasn't cracked concrete was too much of a blessing to miss. But soft skin felt stretched to every step even as she voiced no complaint. As if sensing the soreness beneath her feet, Sephiroth swept her up. Aeris slipped her arms around his neck, and her lips brushed his ear to say, "Thank you."

"No thanks is needed. What else am I for? What other purpose can I have?"

"Do you need to have a purpose?" The flower maid asked. "Can't you just be, Sephiroth?"

"No…I must have some reason for being alive when others far better are gone."

He easily held her in his right arm with her boots still gripped in those fingers, leaving the left free as he flexed his hand, unwary but ever watchful.

"Just in case?" she asked and he turned to face her.

"Just in case," the once general replied. Her lips were far too close to resist the sweet kiss that caused them to gleam. The flower girl laid her head against his epaulet watching the past as it faded behind. Even on sand his boots were so silent and the great sea soon grew hushed.

"Silver sands and whispers…" Aeris breathed in his scent. "They're almost as white as your hair." She sat up momentarily, brushing back one of his bangs, liquid silk running between her fingers. "Almost…" The shore had curved to show the dusk drinking liquid gold in rippling waters. The sea was so silent now on the sands it was likened to a lullaby. "It's as though the two are lovers," she said, "but one of them is shy."

Sephiroth chuckled. "You've been reading too much poetry, my little flower. It's taken root in your soul." She rubbed her cheek against his and in fading daylight he wished time would cease. "Which one is shy, do you suppose?"

"Oh surely the sea without doubt!"

"And why would that be?"

"If you could hear some of the thoughts from the Planet below, you'd know it was no bit of shy." And he smiled to the heat of her blush. "Well we know why it's called the Whispers," she decided.

"Because the lonely sea whispers to the shore…"

The sun was splitting the purple horizon when the cottage came into view. By the rising sea wall made of grey stone, it looked bright by comparison. The flower girl lifted her head suppressing a yawn, still surprised how his smooth step had lulled. "Oh there's a sign there." She squinted in grey. "It's too dark for me to read it."

"For sale or rent," Sephiroth said with a quick turn, sight untroubled by coming dark.

Aeris's nod gave way in surrender to the persistent yawn, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Falling asleep again, little flower?" His low voice soothed without mock.  
"I can't help it…" she murmured without looking up. "I feel so safe with you. Before in the slums, I could never sleep without keeping one ear to the wall. I was never safe even in my own house. I even took chance with my church. I _believed _it was a sanctuary, but never wanted to test those limits, but now with you, I know for sure nothing can ever hurt me…"

"That's my ever promise to you, Aeris." He kissed her on the brow. The flower girl's smile would've shamed brightest day so evening dimmed more in her light. "If the Whispers aren't safe or aren't what you want, I'll take you someplace else. I won't…leave you until you're where you deserve to be."

Her arms tightened round his neck at those last words, and the Planet's melody turned mournful and slow. Green cat eyes gleamed bright in the twilight and illumined what lay close at hand.

"You…can put me down if I'm a nuisance," she said, but only clung ever closer. "I know you're stronger than a hundred-"

"A thousand."

"A thousand men." Aeris blinked. "Really?" She lifted her head squinting to his slight smile that left her unsure if he teased. "Well, either way I hate to be a bother."

"You can never be a bother to me, little flower. How many times must I tell you that?" The words caught him and Sephiroth did smile, and Aeris laughed softly aloud. "And besides, you're not wearing shoes." He lightly touched one of her soles and the gasp raised a silver brow. The Cetra's cheeks burned with what she wished were only remnants of sun, but the dusk wouldn't hide anything from Mako eyes.

"I-I think you just like carrying me," she playfully accused.

"Maybe I do, little rose."

"Oh that's not fair!" she said in a huff, squeezing a fist on his shoulder.

"What isn't fair?"

"Now you have two names for me and for you I don't even have one!"

Sephiroth laughed lowly, hiding pain behind mirth only she had the power to bring. _She should be screaming and fighting to escape my grasp as she did the first day that we met, and yet she basks in it with arms around my neck and the taste of her lips on mine…_

He could think of that no more, but was led to distraction as the light against night lit pure silver. The town was attended by numerous windmills, their soft blades fanning new eve. A wide staircase led up from sea the beneath a sign that said Wesker's Square. The steps were sandy but smooth beneath the shore's leavings, rails polished but not too posh. Soft bulbs sat on black lamp posts and no yellow or red tinged their light.

Sephiroth's boots crunched the displaced shore as he slowly ascended the stairs. Passing beneath the sign that ever creaked to the susurrus of sea behind. The endless waters ringed the town as it completed the shape around, while the Whispers leaned in on all who approached like a child with a tongue full of secrets. Wesker's Square was far more round with what appeared to be shops on the fringe. Not far behind the sign was a curved stone bench where a pair of lovers laughed and lounged. A bottle of wine made whimsy their third, and the man, looking up from his giggling companion, raised his glass to neon green with a wink. Sephiroth hurried farther in, glad Aeris didn't see for her shame. Restaurants fine and bistros cozy had her nostrils twitching for missed midday meal.

"Mmm." The hum vibrated in his ear. "That really smells amazing, but I think if I had to sit at a table I'd probably pass right out. How embarrassing would that be?"

"To me? Not embarrassing at all, little flower. It's been quite a long day for you. I…must apologize," he admitted circling the perimeter as each passerby nodded their way.

Aeris shook the bangs from her face, drowsy and amused. "What are you sorry for now?"

"I regret that I can't find a hotel, but there are higher tiers beyond."

The flower girl shivered as she peered around, and Sephiroth's heart sank as he realized why.

"It's not like that, Aeris. There's no hidden horror. No children to die underground."

"You can tell that, too?"

"Yes and I promise…this is not like the place that you left."

His search lead them back to the stairs once more just from the other side, and Sephiroth raised his eyes to scrutinize above seeing houses but no needed inn.

"You look lost, sir."

The once general lowered his gaze to the fisherman before. The smell of him left no doubt. But the man held no malice, so Sephiroth didn't judge, as he did a quick scan to make sure.

"Perhaps I am," he replied, cool collection tingeing his words, "but that hardly matters. I'm seeking an inn. My little flower needs her rest."

He shifted his arm to a tiny soft sigh and Aeris peered about with an, "Oh."

The fisherman's grin cracked weather worn cheeks. "We don't get many visitors to the Whispers. Most who come tend to abide."

"That's what we're hoping," Sephiroth replied, while Aeris covered her yawn with a blush.

The fisherman tilted his chin to point. "The one you'll want is the Chatham Inn. It's right on the side of the mountain. There's another here in Wesker's Square but it's more for the bar folk when they get too toasted to figure out how to stumble on home. Not for the likes of you fine folk. I'm sure your wife will be comfortable there."

Sephiroth's eyes widened to the far white and almost broke his mask. "Thank you," he said and heard her repeat sweeter, before he whirled to hurry them off. More steps graced his feet as Aeris rested on his shoulder, but she was awake enough to twirl a lock of bright hair.

"Sephiroth?" she murmured where no one could hear, and his face was stricken since she couldn't see.

"Yes, little one."

"When you cast your..." She bit her lip before lifting her eyes to his face. "…angel glamour, do you think they can see your cat eyes?"

That had him sliding them towards her, but Aeris didn't regret her word choice. The second level houses were quaint and homey, made of sea washed stone. The third level held a little more décor, but there was no real envy between the two and above did not overshadow.

"I've never really thought about it, little flower," he admitted. "Whether they see them and then just forget or if they look like any others. They probably just look like ordinary eyes so very unlike your own."

"I never liked mine really." Aeris pulled herself closer to the warm pulse that beat strong at his neck. The sea breeze was relentless even higher up, and her open coat had turned to traitor.

"And why is that, Aeris?"

"They made me different because they're so green, though not half so green as yours."

"I don't think they're any less, little rose, a fairer hue without corruption."

"I think it's what you make of them," she sleepily insisted, blinking to keep her gaze clear. "You have the same eyes you did before, but they hold no horror now."

He kissed her brow and then looked at the inn up a long flight of stairs. _This could be called the City of Stairs,_ he thought glad he carried his little rose. As in Costa del Sol no one thought it odd that he held a small maid in his arms. The looks they did get filled him with shame for what he would never deserve.

Chatham was less fancy than the inn from last night, but it held the quaint air of the town. No suite was theirs, but a cozy room with a fireplace and a view to the sea. Moonlight caught waves rippling far from the shore, but they gentled before lapping the beach. Something about the location caused them to still so lullaby replaced any roar.

Aeris sat on the brick lip near the fire, warming her hands and her face. Exhaustion and hunger fought hard for possession, and the former nearly won the bout. It was only an instant, but sleep took her over so she almost tumbled with a yawn to the floor. Sephiroth caught her from behind so she fell against his chest. Her eyes were shut as she turned her head in complete trust and utter surrender. Her guardian looked down with unbridled torture, as he enveloped her in his embrace.

"I have you, little flower."

"I know…" was her reply. "It's why I'm never afraid to fall." She rested her hands on leather clad arms whose strength could not be matched. "You're far warmer than the fire. It's nice…" she whispered as a knock sounded at the door.

"That's dinner, Aeris," Sephiroth promised. "I'm going to lean you against the mantle. Are you cold? Do you want my coat?"

"No, it's fine. You're just answering the door…I'll be in your arms again soon. It's worth it…" She looked up, face lit from within and touched his cheek with her fingertips. "Those few moments…with a little cold to remind me of what soon awaits…"

He realized his heart, despite its perfection, had not been built for this type of agony. It was a heart made for war for death and destruction, never meant to accept forgiveness. The summons came again and he leaned suddenly forward to kiss her temple before standing up. He positioned her as easily as one would a doll before opening the door to aroma's fog. The young woman delivering blinked up at his face and immediately forgot how to speak. He still wasn't remiss in tendered thank you and left her gleeful to near skip away.

His little flower remained where he had placed her, breath steady in between swaths of sleep. The floor was upholstered in soft piled carpet, and he knew she wouldn't mind. Picking her up, he descended to his knees and placed her leaning before. "Aeris?" he called not too loud to startle so sleepy summer was revealed.

"Oh." She blinked with a little stretch in the perimeter of his arms. "I think I may be just too tired to eat."

"You should try to have a little." He lifted the lid of the platter before them on the carpeted floor. "I should've thought to bring something for you to have for a midday meal."

"Well to be fair you carried me at least half the way. You always seem to know when I'm tired." This close to him and more awake his fair scent even bested the meal, but concerned emerald had her peering around to what would be this night's repast. Seafood soup with mutton pie and there was bread to dip in the broth. She nibbled on the pie, ate the moistened bread, and had a few spoonfuls of soup, but it was the tea afterwards that brought her the most satisfaction. That and her guardian's arms.

No light shone but fire and emerald, which trumped the subdued flames, and in his eyes the shadows danced for they too were filled with his light. She rested against his chest, supported by one arm, sipping her tea with a little smile. He slipped her other hand into his still half clothed in black leather. It wasn't enough. He needed soft skin so smooth against his palm. _As if I deserve it, _the general thought. _The hands that spilled her blood. _But the thought didn't stop him from removing the glove and folding her fingers in his warmth.

"You know," he pondered half to himself, "I haven't killed anything today." Mako light scattered against the window like sprinkled stars on the firmament.

Aeris blinked up. Her tea was half gone, and it was chamomile to push her to dreams. "Is that such a terrible thing, Sephiroth?"

"It's a strange thing," the once general allowed. His slivered eyes still cut the beyond. "I was made for killing, but today I did nothing but protect."

"That seems to me quite wonderful, since I was the one protected."

"But I didn't really do that either." He shifted his gaze down, hiding surprise at her still beaming smile. "There was nothing to threaten you today, little flower. No one to bring you harm."

"But you were there in case something did." She wriggled a bit closer and he carefully tightened his grip at her waist. "And besides…" Aeris admitted closing her eyes, "I love being in your arms." She sighed and turned her face to black leather where his scent was so sweet below. "Will you read to me, Sephiroth?"

"You know I will," he murmured rubbing her palm. "You don't ever have to ask."

"How should I request it then?" She squinted up so all she could see was his light.

"Just…tell me to."

"No, I won't do that. You're not mine to command."

"I'm not so sure about that, Aeris," he said. "I would do anything you asked."

The Cetra bit her lip as summer green quivered like grass blades before a storm. "What if I asked you to kill someone?"

"Would you really ask that of me, Aeris? Does the rose crave blood at last?"

"No." She shivered, and he let go of her hand to enclose her in both of his arms. "Not at all, but…what if I did? What would you do? What would happen if I did ask?"

Sorrow stole the lie that was his joy even as it hid behind his face. "You would truly ask me to take life after what you endured?"

"No, Sephiroth. I'm…so very sorry. You know I never would." She lowered her head, squeezing hard her lids, until long fingers lifted her chin. The little Cetra was quite shocked to see the beginnings of a smile.

"What do I keep saying? Never—"

"Apologize. Yes, Sephiroth, I know."

"Where's your book, little flower?" She reached in her coat's pocket and pulled the volume forth.

"Read the love song, won't you please?"

But the tome opened up to something else, and he read that instead.

_"Death be not proud, though some have called thee  
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,  
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,  
Die not…"_

* * *

_Author's Note: The poem at the end of this chapter is_ Death Be Not Proud _by John Donne, and it belongs to him and his estate. I can take no credit for that work. I was actually going to have Seph read Aeris the _Prufrock_ poem again (and it_ is _referenced)_,_ but that one had been rattling around my head for fairly obvious reasons. _

_The next chapter is entitled **Despair's Desire, **and it will be posted next Friday June 5. Again as always, thank you for your support!_


	11. Despair's Desire

"**Bones mend. Regret stays with you forever."**

**-Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind"**

**Chapter 11**

**Despair's Desire**

Sephiroth kept his watch over Aeris all through the quiet night. He'd removed her coat, but didn't touch her clothes, sore shamed to just have the thought. The moment he placed her on the bed, the Cetra locked her arms around his neck. Sephiroth murmured, "Don't worry, you're safe. I just need to remove my boots." She smiled to the promise in his words and let him go as she rolled to her side. The firelight shivered still in his glow til he shut his eyes to that pain. Opening to her, the heat in them changed as the once general undid silver buckles. Slipping the leather off his shoulders, Sephiroth shook his hair as it shimmered the night. He hung the long coat in the wardrobe where it pooled like oil on the dark wood. Clad only in pants he slid in beside her as Aeris gave a soft peaceful sigh.

All he could think as she lay in his arms was that he didn't deserve this joy. It would be taken. It had to be as all those he had slain cursed his name. All but one and she was nestled without fear in her murderer's full embrace. Her lashes were dark and soft on her checks as the sea breeze soft ruffled the curtains. Tiny hands curled against his chest, and Sephiroth held tight to the mask. A smile still ruled the Cetra's face as he traced her lips in his light. _The utter joy would disappear if this little flower now knew my thoughts. How dare I think such? My heart is unworthy. Is a monster allowed to love a rose?_

Daylight broke in unblinking green as Aeris murmured his name. The gleam was muted behind closed lids as pain squeezed them hard to close, but being robbed of her vision caused greater torture and he couldn't bear that for long. Her now messy braid twisted over his arms and her bangs brushed against his bare skin. He wanted to wake her with kisses, gain her consent, and press her beneath him on the bed. Revulsion stayed hidden behind the mask lest he wake this innocent flower. Dawn did this gentle, bringing peaceful sleep to end and summer eyes to wash his face.

"Did you sleep well, little one?"

"You know I did, Sephiroth." She smiled up at him, and he lifted her chin for a full and morning kiss. His hand slid to her cheek as he tilted his head to not miss an ounce of taste. Not even the night could rob her of sweetness, and he wanted it all on his tongue.

Aeris thanked the world she was lying down for her legs would've given way. Her dear friend hummed a bit in her ear, but she heard laughter in the tune. Delicate hands ran over his shoulders like alabaster smoothed by time. She spun in a limbo that wanted the kiss, but also the sight of him before. Time brought the latter as she traced a small finger down muscle that shamed a mountain. Sephiroth caught her hands gently to rub her soft skin, leaning his forehead to hers. Her bangs were a bit haphazard from sleep, but they still tangled with silver light.

"How did I win against this strength?" she half-mused to his sad smile.

"You had your own and it was far greater. Purity against corruption."

"How is this corruption?"

"How is it not?" He sadly kissed her hand. "In the darkness we're all shadows, but you carry the light inside. It's the reason that you bested me, but I was too blind to see."

"You're not blind anymore though, Sephiroth," Aeris replied staring up into emerald so deep.

"No, I can't be, little flower. There is power in names and power in blood, but there is also power in truth."

She kissed him this time, and he pulled her close as if she contained all the truth in the world. The fronds of his lashes shivered her skin, and the kiss lingered long after its end. _Maybe angels just have long lashes, _she thought hiding the giggle as he tilted his head.

"Oh!" Aeris realized looking down. "I fell asleep in my dress?"

"In your coat, as well, little rose." He palmed her cheek bringing her gaze back up in immediate need for his light. There was rue for that, but Sephiroth didn't know how to remedy such a desire. "I…removed that," he said glancing aside. "I hope you don't feel violated."

"No, of course not. I know you'd never do anything…anything against my will." There was a small smolder like haze in the dusk, and Sephiroth took the kiss that was waiting there. She squirmed against him before it was half done, and he had to let her go to his guilt. Aeris sighed and rolled to sit on the other side of the bed. Looking over her shoulder, she tried smoothing her hair, but the mess was too great to salvage. Her protector sat up as well, his back like an iron wall. Silver strands trickled along the sheets, and she wondered what now brought him grief. Her bag was near the fireplace so she had to come around. Holding it she stood before the once great general whose head was bowed toward tightened fists. Unafraid and undaunted, Aeris stepped forward to kiss him on the cheek, and slivered eyes that could follow a snowflake still widened in surprise.

"Why are you so kind to me, Aeris?" he asked, catching her fingers before she could go.

The flower girl cocked her head to the side with her free hand to her hip. "Why wouldn't I be? And what I'm doing isn't really 'kind.'" She blushed and the shadow of a smile touched his lips. "I…like kissing you." He let her hand slip through his palm so she could go shower and change.

When the Cetra returned he was standing by the window, one wrist clenched hard behind and full gloves on both his hands. Her bones would be pulp in such a clutch, and at the sight of him there she lost breath. In the space between her shower and now, he'd become the Great General once more. His shoulders were still impressive without the pauldrons, as leather flared below the knee. Boot buckles gleamed like fresh minted coins to the rivalry of coat clasps like ice. They both lost to the cascade of long hair for the sun turned it to frosted silver. His face was obscured by this winter shroud as Aeris softened her approach.

_He's looking north, _she thought in sorrow. _Ever north towards despair's desire. Does his sight stretch across the great expanse? Can he see the snow that must surely fall there? Can slivered eyes cut through the mist that obscures what he has to find?_

The carpet beneath muffled her step, but Sephiroth still turned his head. Aeris's hand squeezed to her heart as her feet locked to the floor, and the once general's lips parted in slight as he lowered bright, burning eyes. Gone was the drab of dead leaf brown, replaced with the color of pearl. It near matched the skin above her breast and the smooth, slim limbs at her sides. The skirts of her dress were softly ruffled, trimmed in blue and lace. It just covered her knees, and he tried not to imagine the length of her legs going up. Reversing it, Sephiroth observed her feet, which were lifted in slightly heeled sandals.

_She's light to my darkness…_and was sad to his soul. _Even standing in shadow she beams. _The heart that never quavered sank deeper than stone in the murk of a bottomless sea. Her hair had been braided once again with the pink ribbon to adorn. Even though it matched no hue on her dress, it still fit perfectly. There was only one thing he could say to this vision, and "You're beautiful, Aeris," rang low.

"_You _say that…" she whispered. "You of all people, who could be beauty's king…"

"No, little rose." He turned to her fully. "Innocence is always better. Only through innocence can beauty be true."

"I'm not so sure, Sephiroth." She shook her head slow. "Guilt and sorrow somehow magnify, though I wish it wasn't so, I can't deny, and call my eyes both liars and blind."

"Come here, little flower," he murmured. "I want to see you in daylight and not framed in corruption, though I don't deserve either sight."

Aeris's feet unfroze from the floor, and she wet suddenly reddened lips. She could decry his defilement with her words, but knew greater comfort lay in her presence. He stepped back from the window and took her hand to spin her around in the dawn. The ruffles and lace flared up to mid-thigh, and the great general froze his heart against want.

"I love this dress, Aeris," he spoke this aloud. _But I'd love it better pooled soft at your feet…_

"It's similar to one I used to wear a very long time ago. I was being a bit nostalgic the day I found it, but felt luckier they were selling such in the slums. I know it was wasteful to spend gil on a memory, but I couldn't pass it up. It's not quite alike, but it's close enough with the blue trim on the edges."

His gaze was static as he held her hand, remembering the other dress. Aeris squeezed his fingers to show she understood, as he pulled the flower maid closer. The pink and the red were a few feet away hidden in her bag. It bore blood too old to smell, but his memory never failed to provide.

"It's alright, Sephiroth…" Aeris murmured, looking up with sunlight splashed on her cheeks. She could smell leather and warm, winter skin, and that shut her eyes with a smile. "You always smell lovely even without soap. I guess that's because you're an angel." The giggle leaked between her fingers, but suddenly ceased when he lowered his head. "Oh…I always forget. That title bothers you, too."

"That title bothers me worst of all," he admitted and she laid her other hand on his. "The 'great general' is gone. 'Hero' is a lie, but 'angel' is an abomination. I'm neither hero, nor angel, nor remotely great. The most I can be is useful...useful to you, little rose." When he peered up, Aeris choked back tears at the need in hollow light. "Let me be of use to you…" His large hand covered hers so that both were sandwiched in between.

"You know you're much more than that to me, Sephiroth."

"And you know you're much more than kind."

She squeaked as he pulled her into his arms so they both could face the sea. "Forgive me, Aeris," he immediately begged. His fingers had locked over her belly, black leather gloves tainting the white.

"I already have." Her face tilted back as he leaned over, kissing her brow so the sun envied her smile. "You know by now how much I love your strength. I wouldn't be here if not for you."

Sephiroth could only shake his head, remembering what that strength had once wrought, but her exuberance was just too much, and a half lift came to his lips.

"I love it when you smile, too," she admitted behind closed eyes, and mirth broke with a chuckle as his hair tumbled over to tease her throat and breast. _You'll leave her soon. Cold will be your due, as it was then so it will be forever. _His arms tightened around her, and he sealed Mako eyes, but fate mocked him with the truth. Aeris laid her cheek against his chest with a sigh of utter contentment, and peering down again afforded her protector a view few men would ever protest. The once spoken words, _"I'm falling for you," _meandered into his memory, and Sephiroth was glad her eyes were soft shut for he struggled with his mask to full shame.

"There's…something about this place, Aeris," he decided, cupping his palm beneath her chin.

"Something bad?" She blinked back up and summer green quivered like a storm.

"No," he assured her, rubbing her lips with the tip of a leather clad thumb. "Something pure…as if it were washed by the sea." He lifted his face with narrowed gaze to the waves and the great sky beyond. "Do you remember the girl in Sector 2…the one who called me 'imminent darkness?'"

"Yes…" The shiver had not left her eyes and moved now to her skin. He held her tighter in his arms and her fear quickly stilled.

"Do you remember what she said about the kingdom and the foundation?"

"Yes…I didn't like that place and I didn't like those words. They make me now think of the in between. It's like she knew there was something there…waiting."

"You never have to go back there again, neither slums nor that dark space. I didn't mean to remind you of horror. I was trying to use it for contrast. Here…in the Whispers, there are no shadows save the ones we cast ourselves." He half-veiled his eyes looking down at her and his lashes could not obscure light. "It's as though this place were made for you, Aeris. The sea and no Mako power."

"You're sure of that?"

"I am, little one. The reek of that permeates everything it touches, but here there's only the sea."

Aeris squeezed her eyes tight and concentrated on the Planet's soft sung song. There was always that sorrow overall for what had and was being endured, and even a shadow, a fluttering gleam of what lay in the future. The Cetra never dwelled on the latter long. It made her head spin, but in this one place, in this small town, nothing drained the heart of the world or relied on stolen souls.

"I like it here, if just for that."

"I knew that you would, Aeris." He slid his hand beneath her chin.. "I was thinking since you're so…gorgeously dressed…" Emerald cloaked her from head to toe. "That we could perhaps go downstairs for breakfast instead of ordering here."

"But…you would have to hide yourself."

He nodded with rue tinged smile. "I'm used to that, little flower. Concealing it all behind the mask." He stared out and his pupils grew smaller, cutting through time to the past. "I don't even know what I could've been had not horror taken my mind."

"I think you'd be this," she said softly, laying her hands atop his arms. "This right here. Exactly as you are. You can't hide yourself from me, Sephiroth," she promised and his jaw clenched tight. "And one day soon, everyone will know what you truly are."

"I'm afraid no one will see me as you do, Aeris." He slipped gloved fingers in between hers, staring down at black leather and the slim white that clung there without fear. _Light held in darkness. You should let her go…but she fits in my embrace like she was born to be there. _Sephiroth squeezed her soft middle tight. _One day…there will come another whose arms she fits in, as well, and she'll look even happier than she does right now… _He made himself believe it. It had to be the truth as he tried to release his little rose. But it couldn't be done. He couldn't let go. His arms still stayed tight around.

"Aeris…" he whispered and she lifted her head, eyes shut to the brightest of smiles.

"Hm?"

"Please, little flower…ask me to let you go."

"Why would I ever do that?" She frowned slightly. "You know I love being in your arms."

"Because if you don't, I never will, and we'll stay like this for all time. "But," he continued, laying his hand so gently against her pale throat, "if you ask me, if you wish, if you struggle to get away, I have no choice but to let you go. I'll never hold you against your will."

She opened her eyes and tears swam through green like clear fish in a summer lake, and he thought again, _Soon you will leave her and she'll be happy and joyous and free. _The forced belief made his heart ache as a low bell tolled the hour.

"We should probably go soon before I'm lulled by the sound of your poor broken heart."

Sephiroth lowered his head to lay lips her brow, but she turned in his arms for full kiss. He wanted her soft skin beneath his free palms, but knew how dangerous that would be. "After breakfast," he murmured on her lips, softly pressing his teeth against, "perhaps we can look at that house."

Standing on her toes, Aeris lifted herself to meet him once again. He clutched the base of her braid to the flower girl's gasp and slanted his mouth to claim her deep. She clung to his shoulders as the once general eased his breath along her neck, just barely grazing the shivering skin with the edge of his teeth. It would be abominable to leave a mark there, and he wouldn't embarrass her here.

Splayed upon his shoulders, she gulped air in the resonance of her protector's low laugh. "Only you can draw that out of me, Aeris." He kissed her smooth cheek and swept his little flower up. Her heels had been lifted anyway with toes almost a-dangle, but this was dangerous as well.

She laid her cheek against his neck where the high collar curled. "That house…" she remembered then sitting up. "You mean the one we saw by the shore?"

He nodded, untrusting himself to speak. Her lips were wetter than a spring morning and blushed as pink as a new budded rose.

"Can we go look at it today?"

"Of course, little flower, but we should contact who owns it first."

He turned then, carrying her toward the bed so slowly as if that would help. Sitting her down, he leaned above pressing his brow to hers. _If you knew little rose…if you knew what I wanted, horror would melt your dreams. I can never have you. You're not for me. I should be flayed for even having such thoughts._ Aeris laid a palm to one of his hands and lifted her other to his face. Sephiroth sighed and clutched her wrist before sitting beside her on the bed. The little Cetra leaned immediately to his side as he picked up the room's phone.

"I thought we were going downstairs for breakfast."

"We are, Aeris. I'm calling the number that was on the sign."

"What sign?" She ran silver hair between her fingers, letting it tickle the soft inner skin.

"The one in front of the house." He half smiled at her distraction.

She jolted up with frosted locks spilling through her hand. "…you remember that?"

"Yes," he replied, pressing the digits. "I saw it last night when I looked back."

"In utter darkness…from far away you both saw _and _remembered the number?"

"Of course I did." He tucked the phone between his ear and shoulder as it began to ring. "It looked like a place you would like."

The Cetra replaced her hand on his with adoration lifting her eyes.

"You're the pinnacle of creation…you know that, right?"

The second tone was fading away as he bent down for a swift, soft kiss.

"No, little flower," Sephiroth told her, "but you most certainly are – Yes, hello?" He sat up and Aeris shut her eyes, pressing still damp lips.

"The house by the shore on the edge of town. Is it still available?" The general wrapped his right arm around the flower girl and picked up a pen from the nightstand. "Today." He wrote down a name. "Noon will suffice." Then the time. "We'll meet you there." He twirled the pen in gloved fingers. "Very good. Until then." And hung up the phone.

Aeris was giggling behind a small hand, and a silver brow arched to her mirth. "What amuses you now, little flower?" he asked and she squeaked trying to stifle the laugh.

"It's just…you're so direct but polite."

He turned toward her while crossing his legs, and Aeris leaned against his side.

"There was no reason for me to be rude." He halved his eyes still offset by her grin, which grew even wider at those words. "But why waste my words in idle chatter, when I could spend my time talking to you?" The knuckles on her cheek were warm beneath the leather, and she blinked to capture fleeing tears. "Well," Sephiroth conceded, brushing an escapee away, "we should go to breakfast. You'll want to eat and we've an appointment at noon." He stood and offered her his hand, which Aeris readily took.

The Chatham's little bistro boasted bright tall windows with their panes flung to the slow churned sea. The breeze was persistent, but not too cool to which Aeris was quite thankful. She'd left her coat in wary optimism that the Whispers were allowing to grow. Remnants of dawn clung to the horizon, bled from ascending sun. Sephiroth stared at the orb with unblinking eyes and pulled the sun block from his pocket. He laid it on the table as Aeris blew steam off the top of her tea.

"You always remember the little things," she told him, tentatively clasping the handle.

"If you're to stay here, you'll need to remember. Your skin is too pale to forget." He flicked his gaze back her way, brushing silver locks aside. His coffee was so molten it cut tiny fissures in the ceramic beneath his hand, but that mattered little to a man who could cup living lava til it turned to stone. He drank it as almost an afterthought while retrieving the note and the pen. Emerald gleamed down even in sunlight to show where his focus lay.

"I almost forget that you're left-handed," Aeris mused, propping up her chin with one hand.

"Yes, little flower, I always have been." He penned a few words before folding the slip and stowing it away.

"Can you write with your other?" Curiosity burned her twice as hot for the query and the inscribed.

"I can," he admitted. "I was…taught to use both."

Aeris winced at his hesitation. "Oh no…not that again. Please don't tell me there was more torture." She reached forward to clutch his free hand, and the once general just wanted to lie.

"My whole life was torturous, my little flower…until the day I saved you." He cupped all her fingers in his gloved palm with residual warmth and his own. The flower maid squeezed as hard as she could, wishing to drive that truth out. "It's alright, Aeris," Sephiroth assured her. "Truly, little rose, it's alright."

"No, Se—" She caught the rest in a gasp, her green eyes darting wide. The little restaurant was empty save for their server who was gathering the breakfast plates.

"That's alright, too, Aeris. If you did say my name, they still wouldn't know it was me. They can see I'm here, but they can't see me…at least not as you do."

"A-Are you still beautiful though," she had to ask, "in any other eyes?"

"I'm shocked I'm beautiful in yours." His pale lids lowered the screen of his lashes, but that didn't obscure what he saw. "But if they do, it's probably more so since they don't see my truth."

"There's no way they could ever see your full beauty without it, Seph."

Her blush bloomed bright as a half smile lifted the corner of his lips.

"Is that your name for me now, Aeris?" He thumbed her tender palm.

"I-I'm so sorry, Sephiroth. I didn't mean to offend. I've-" Lifted hands tried to hide her nibbled lips. "I've been thinking of you like that in my head for a while now…"

A soft laugh drew his smile full. "It's alright, Aeris. I'm not offended. From your lips to my ears it's so sweet. You're the first to call me that."

"Who would dare?" she barely breathed, lowering her face in the heat of her cheeks.

"Obviously you would, little flower." He reached across to lift her chin. "You'll be the only one…"

She blinked hard, peering back up at him where silver hair swayed in the breeze. Her other hand crept into the curl of his and her protector would not shun this gift. "Would they hear the sound and just not remember?"

"That or it would sound like something else not the curse that it's become."

"Then how in Midgar-"

"Did they know it was me?" He shrugged, running a finger along her wrist. Enhanced senses allowed him to feel it but slight so he stopped before greed prompted more. "I was asleep when they caught me then." His pupils near vanished so thin did they shrink. _Who else could've accessed that place? _he thought with a jolt for what it could portend. _It doesn't matter right now. Only this task does. Seeing her safe before your next…_

"You being tortured is never alright." Aeris squeezed his great hands again, and Sephiroth hid dark thoughts behind silver hair.

"I picked it up quickly. The writing that is. It's a different sort of delicacy than what I need in order to wield the sword."

"You…can use that right handed, too?" She didn't shiver so much as still. He glanced up through his fallen hair and regret tinged emerald light.

"I can if needed. They demanded perfection and I could give no less…"

Breakfast arrived to bring him reprieve from at least talk of the past. He sipped coffee that could've melted steel while she buttered toast and gazed out at the sea. Aeris was half afraid it would disappear, and her dreams would dissolve back to Midgar.

"Miss?" Sephiroth queried as he turned to the server who jumped as if she'd just noticed him there. The mask was in place as perfect as ever, and Aeris realized her hands were free. "Is there another way to the edge of town besides walking along the seastrand?"

"Oh, do you mean to Kes's place?" she asked placing the teapot down.

He raised his brow. "Kes…yes, that's his name. He has a house for offer."

"That's easy, sir, just follow the Cobblestone Way north. It stays high til it dips you down. You'll be able to see the roof from the bridge and the back wall has stairs to the shore. There's a door in there but I suspect you'll want the front that faces the sea." She slung a hand to her hip with a satisfied nod. "I'm glad he's finally letting it go. He bought it, you see, for his pretty, young wife, but she wanted the house more than him."

The great general gazed silent to neon green on his cheeks like jaded tears. "That's quite a shame to spend gil on something that will only leave bad memory."

"It is," the woman agreed, swiping away some spare crumbs. "Better to start anew. You need anything else?"

Sephiroth turned to Aeris who shook her head with stained lips from that morning's strawberries.

"That is a shame," the flower girl murmured once the waitress had left.

"Misfortune can lead to treasure," he said with a frown, "for each in a different way."

"I suppose," she conceded, lifting her mug where the steam was now wispy and warm. "Although – what is this tea?"

The very first sip made her cheeks mimic rose so the best gardener would sulk in envy. Shutting her eyes, Aeris inhaled the rich brew, which invited another taste. "There's flowers in it." She knew right away. "I'd be ashamed if I couldn't tell that."

Sephiroth half veiled his eyes as a smile crept up reaching high as bright emerald in smolder. He focused to weed out summer and sea, catching swaths of the steam as it curled.

"It's earl grey touched with lavender. May I, little one?" She nodded and turned the handle around so black leather brushed her hand. The lack of heat didn't deter the taste that spilled over his tongue. He only blinked once looking down at the cup, but Aeris beamed in that brief cut of light.

"It's subtle and soft, but its strength comes from that, and it lingers like wine on your tongue…" The Mako burned to the shadow on his words as the sliver found only her.

"I-It's delightful," she said retrieving her cup, but leaving her other fingers for him. "You mentioned my poetry last night on the beach, but failed to praise your own." A larger gulp helped wet a throat that had turned suddenly dry.

Sephiroth chuckled and pressed her small hand between his two so careful. "It's a shame we're in public." The gleam swayed so low. "This tea could near rival that ice cream."

"I could stay here on just the merits," she murmured, "of this wonderful tea alone."

The sun was half high when breakfast was done, lining each crest in a moment of gold, but the foam remained silver and Aeris almost imagined it shushing the light as it mocked. Sephiroth drew twenty gil from his pocket and laid it under an empty mug.

"Did you always tip so generously?" Aeris asked, brushing a napkin against her lips.

"I believe I did," he replied as he stood and offered her his hand. She smiled as she took it still amused by this manner. "When the occasion was so called." He led the flower maid through the empty tables that shone for later guests. "Money never meant much to me." Sephiroth chanced a glance down and a rent bled through his heart for her face. "I was paid too well for that." A tinge of regret brought on by the past had him lifting her chin.

"People tend to remember good tippers," she told him as the sun cast their shadows before.

He covered her hand and sadly promised, "They won't remember me."

Behind the counter in front were premade sandwiches and they bought a few for later on. Afterwards Aeris thought it wise to retrieve her travel bag, and Sephiroth agreed and let her small hand slip through his leather bound fingers. She glanced back at him in the midst of the stairs, and he placed a smile upon the mask. Aeris returned the look true, bouncing soft up the steps.

Without those frail fingers Sephiroth squeezed his fists, breathing deep in attempted calm. _If she likes this house then here she'll stay so long as this place is safe. _He half wished a monster would burst through the door. _But I'm the only monster here…_ The once general whirled to seek the front desk, telling the clerk they'd abide for more nights.

"You and your wife must like it here, then?" she smiled looking right through neon green.

The intake of breath was as sharp as the blade, and Sephiroth turned quicker than could be followed. Facing the stairs, he slid his gaze sideward. "What she likes is all that matters."

"Well," the woman laughed gnawing at her pen, "that's always the way of it, right?"

He said only, "Hush," as his breath caught sweet summer, and the desk clerk went back to her book.

A line of worry crossed her face for he wasn't where she'd left him, but a low called, "Aeris," brought instant smile, and she half skipped down the stairs. Sephiroth couldn't understand, he just couldn't fathom why she looked so happy, but as his flower approached, he still caught her small hands and pulled the maid into his arms. The desk clerk was still occupied by her reading so he gave Aeris a swift, soft kiss. It wouldn't do to shame her even though no one could see what he truly was. The Cetra laid her fingers against his cheek, sliding them down as he stood tall once more.

Outside the flower girl sighed in relief to the gentle warmth of the day. The ceaseless sea breeze tossed both silver and chestnut, but didn't make her regret her left coat. Long leather rippled below his knees, and Aeris cocked her head to the side. "You won't be too warm?" she asked as they walked down steps cut in reflective black stone.

"I'll be fine, little flower," he assured as their images danced beneath their feet.

"Well," she considered, "when you do go north…" She chewed her lip and laid a hand to his chest. "You'll need better clothes or at least a shirt. Something to cover this winter skin…this pale and flawless skin…"

Sephiroth clasped her wrist gently with lids lowered to her concern. "My temperature's constant, Aeris. No cold could break this heat."

Aeris parted her lips, but there were no words as he released her other hand. The leather was still smooth in her soft palm, but she wanted something more. Tugging at the thick skin as they walked, she tried to hide her frustration.

"What are you doing now, little flower?" he asked amused despite heavy thoughts.

"I want to hold your hand not your glove." She picked at his wrist, but the fabric beneath his bracer wouldn't budge. Her pursed lips were stern as she looked up. "Why do you still remain bound?"

Falling to one knee much to her surprise, he brushed a knuckle against her cheek. "Because I _am _bound, little rose, by promises made to you…and my mother."

"Oh…" Her sternness melted to his face raised in grief, but the inn was lonely so only she saw. Before summer green he loosened his wrists and slipped the black skin from his hands.

"Do they hurt you?" she asked, tapping the metal.

"No," he assured her quickly.

"Would they hurt _me_?" Aeris persisted and Sephiroth sighed standing up.

"They probably would, little flower. They're too heavy for you." He took her hand then and she was appeased.

Leaning against his arm, Aeris shut her eyes with a sigh. "It's funny…" she mused, lifting her head as the sea breeze cooled her face. "You'd think your palms would be all callused, but the skin's actually quite smooth." He gave a low laugh, tying their fingers together as they passed a row of sea blue houses. Only the youngest of children played in the lanes, their elders ensconced in school. That was set in the mountain on the upper south end and took up two full tiers.

To Sephiroth and Aeris their meandering through town was almost like a holiday. Sand smoothed stones gave way to cobbles and everyone they passed was polite. Only a small town where life was in flourish could such kindness be offered to strangers, though the flower girl wondered if her protector had "persuaded" everyone to be nice. At the very thought she felt like an accuser for he'd told her those days were done. _It's because of Midgar, _the flower girl thought. _My mistrust grew and blossomed there._ Crossing a bridge, Aeris gave a little gasp for a roof lay right at their feet. Sephiroth smiled for her juxtaposed but without any children to suffer.

"I never thought I'd see the world from this view." But joy turned to guilt in the midst. He lifted her chin and shook his head, moving close to allow the foot traffic.

_I should be bound and chained in a bottomless pit, yet I'm here hand in hand with this rose. I shouldn't be allowed to breathe the air of this world I once tried to destroy. They don't see her clutching a monster's hand, and none will know I was ever here…_

"Oh Seph, look! I think I see it!" She slipped his grasp to almost skip down the sea wall stairs.

His truncated name from her lips called an indulgent smile. He followed her down and around the corner where it grew cooler in the shade. Cold bumps blossomed on Aeris's skin, but she barely noticed them so entranced with the house. Sandaled feet sank in powdery sand, and she half stumbled before he caught her. Rubbing her arms, he drove his warmth in and steadied the Cetra as well. For a moment she thought she might split in two with both him and here to fascinate.

It near blended in with the grey stone wall if first sight could be believed, but as Aeris blinked in the still climbing sun, the true colors split off from the plain. Made of sandstone and granite like most of the town, the latter swept sight with the subtlest hues. The flower maid's lips were set in slight smile as she swayed slowly in front of the house. Her ankle almost turned, but she righted herself before Sephiroth could catch her again. Clicking a tongue, she removed her sandals, letting her toes embrace the warm beach. Like the Whispers themselves stone steps led up to a porch now instead of a square. The sand still swirled over, borne by the breeze and unswept to lie as it wished. Pillars supported a balcony above, and the Cetra's hands clasped peering up. Many a sunrise could spill all its splendors through those clear, glass doors. Shutters surrounded that mimicked a sea the shade and softness of wrinkled blue silk.

Aeris lowered her face against clasped hands before peering back over her shoulder. Her protector was watching only her with head bowed and eyes burning low. _I…I had my back to him again. _But that memory seemed so far away, and the place between no longer ached. Leaving her shoes where they lay in the sand, she half-ran into his embrace. _Dearest friend…what's happening? How is this now a wonderful thing?_ Her answer was laughter like myriad bells that harmonized with the sighing sea.

Sephiroth bent to kiss her bare shoulders, his hair caressing uncovered skin. The house only mattered to his eyes for what it meant to her. Her joy in its sight would've been more than enough, but then she'd near flown to his arms. Now she was shaking and he was alarmed, holding tighter to ward off the breeze. Then his enhanced hearing caught what couldn't be, muffled in buckles and leather.

"Love, love, love…"

"You…love this place? That's what you mean, isn't it, my little flower?"

She smiled up through salt reddened cheeks, and he lifted his eyes to the house. The sight filled the slivers thin as thorn for they could not hold what dwelled below.

"Yes, Sephiroth…I love it so much."

"But you haven't seen the inside yet." Her innocent assurance brought the ghost of a smile, and he was able to look back down. Soft lips glistened pink and it was too much, he tasted them full til he stole every gasp.

"The inside's…as beautiful as the without," she said with sweet stolen breath. He stood back up, but she had his eyes now though they tried to hide behind lashes. "I'm good at judging that." The wind tumbled locks of silvery white over her cheeks with a sigh. Aeris twisted a strand around her small fingers, his scent unhidden by sea or shore. "And when I do see I know for certain, I'll love it even more." She faced the house again, but now in his arms, skin quaking beneath that touch.

"You're shivering, Aeris." He took her hand still holding her in his arms.

"I'm fine," she promised even as her vision fogged from heartrending grief. _Please, _she prayed as he rubbed her hand. _Sea salt and tears are the same. He can't possibly tell the difference…please don't let him know._

Sephiroth shut his eyes when she turned away, but nothing fell for they were dry. _I won't have to temper my strength anymore nor be so gentle as this. One errant squeeze…_ He shook his head so silver hair slithered against her neck. Aeris arched her spine, tilting back her head as the breath slid between her lips. It took just one arm around her waist to pull the flower maid closer. _I won't have this sweet innocent to whisper forgiveness or softly say my name. It'll just be me, my guilt, and my sorrow forever ever more… _His lips parted, but the words turned to wind as a far clock began to chime. What could be said? How could heart's ease be garnered from this truth? _Being gentle isn't a burden…it's allowed me to touch this pale rose. _

The scrape of boots against wind tossed sand pulled his attention to the wall stairs. A man clung to the railing, squinting across as he held his cap against the wind. His mouth twitched as he noticed the pair below so the stairs were a trial he had to surmount while the eleventh bell hushed the sea.

Sephiroth stood to his full height, following the labored descent. He resisted the urge to plunge through the man's brain and hunt out fell intentions. _She'd be appalled at me for that and this is not a threat. _Aeris tightened her grip his great hand, eagerness flowing from her fingers. Sliding his gaze back down to her, he bent swift to her ear. "You mustn't seem too eager," he whispered with a kiss to the corner of her mouth. She shut her eyes, but it was too brief and he was standing over her again. Her protector locked his arms around as the man shuffled in approach.

The general gave the mask a prideful cast that staunchly refused to waver. The town's belief of their false status was reaffirmed in this one. _That is best until I know that she's safe. Gods willing her "dear friend" won't whisper the secret and render her ashamed. _But Aeris played along better than he could imagine, near melting into his embrace. He had to shut his eyes for the span of such whimsy that such joy could be the truth, but reality had crushed him too many times to cling to blatant fantasy. Neither human vision nor quickest camera would've seen that briefest blink.

"You're the one who called?" the man asked as the breeze relinquished its clutch on his cap.

Sephiroth gave a nod in response, direct and almost curt. The man reached out a hand and the general took it keeping his other around the Cetra. Aeris for her part raised a brow as he gave her a brushing glance. "I'm Kes," he said, "if you didn't know that."

"And I'm Aeris," the Cetra replied. She shot a glance up at Sephiroth, and hot neon poured from his eyes. Kes at least had the grace to blush behind his weathered cheeks. He tipped his hat a bit grudgingly, and Aeris remembered what they'd heard.

"I trust the outside suits you well?" he spoke to Sephiroth again. Aeris considered that being ignored, though rude it might be, was far better than being threatened.

"It's more for her," the general replied lifting his hands to the flower girl's shoulders.

"Of course it is," Kes spat the words as if they'd rotted in brackish seas. It could've been the wrath from unleashed emerald, but the man took a quick step back. Rubbing his neck with a salt worn palm, he gave a rueful glance back up. "I'm…sorry, miss." It was sincere. "Let me show you the inside." He used the porch railing as a crutch, hauling himself up the short stairs. The door opened with a twist, and Aeris almost startled in the belief that Sephiroth had unlatched it.

"I-It's not locked?" she managed to say as Kes peered over his shoulder. Squinting he tried to take a quick measure, but that was beyond his talents.

"There are no locked doors in the Whispers," he told her. "We don't have any need for them here." He continued his stare and the question was bounced a few times before finding his tongue. "Where are you from?"

"Midgar," she answered, seeing no reason to lie.

"That hole," Kes snorted. "It's still standing?"

"It is…though what lies beneath slowly fades."

Something in her voice stilled any more query, so he pushed open the door.

Aeris gave Sephiroth's hand a tight squeeze before following their host. The once general thought, _Don't fear this one, my rose. If he meant any harm I'd snap his fool neck, but make him apologize to you first._

The floor was hard wood of deepest mahogany and merely shushed under two sets of feet. Aeris let go of her guardian's hand as the cool wood seeped through her soles. Light laid a line between the drawn curtains that Kes then unleashed on the room. A bay window to rival the Sunlight Suite opened wide to the whispering sea, while a cushion of dawn red lush and plush beckoned weariness to take rest. Aeris wanted to lay with her head on pillowed ends, but she stilled her feet to just stand in the sun. The waves wrinkled and winked through crystalline glass and the maid knew that she had to be dreaming.

Sephiroth looked up as he shut the front door, observing that there was a lock. The ceiling spanned the stories in the open floor plan and up two steps sat the kitchen. Silent as shadow he ascended brief height, slit eyes taking in every detail. The upper cabinets would be a bit high for her, but that could be remedied with a step stool. Duller than sea foam with black ebon knobs, they mimicked the glossy floor tiles.

"It's open, you see?" the owner was saying as Aeris stood entranced by the sea. "High ceilings here and plenty of light and more than you'd need of the shore."

"I can never have enough…" the little Cetra replied then bit her tongue in afterthought.

Sephiroth sighed slightly shaking his head, but couldn't help the gentle smile.

Kes nodded in what could've been slight respect, limping over to the dining table. Fake flowers adorning shimmered in dust, and the man rubbed a stiff leaf with his fingers. "I'd have all of this cleaned for you two of course." He wiped the lint on the edge of his jacket.

"Dust has never bothered me," Aeris said, forcing her gaze from the window. She cocked her head with a little grin at sight of the fake blossoms. The pantry door was ajar before Kes opened it wide, the space large enough for three of her. _My poor guardian though…_ She found him without thought. _He'd be squeezed like a heart locked in stone. _She suddenly remembered his dark, iron cage and her hands swift flew to her chest. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes as he stepped down, wondering what held her so troubled.

Beside the pantry was another room and Kes hobbled through the open doorway. Aeris ran a hand over the wood dining chairs, dust flying away in her clutch. _It's as real as this moment. He's not in a cage…and neither am I anymore._

The little room was a den in the corner of the house, boasting two windows instead of one. Not that they rivaled the one facing the shore even doubled and cornered within. The floor here was carpeted to match the bright sands, and the walls were a peaceful deep blue. There was even a powder room tucked in the corner, and she was dumbfounded by this luxury. A careful hand descended to her slight shoulder, and Aeris laid her palm over smooth, winter skin. The smile just shone at his very presence as she tilted her head back to see. Emerald and black shards swept over all, concentration ruling his face.

_There's nothing here, _he thought, _nothing here to harm her and everything to bring her joy. _A tautness was crinkling the edge of the mask, but he nodded as the man led them out.

"Let me show you the upstairs," Kes said, and Aeris fought a gasp for her breath.

"I forgot…" she told her guardian as the owner tackled that task. "I just can't believe…" The Cetra shook her head. Sephiroth drew her close for just a brief moment, but anticipation's tremble made him release her too soon.

The three bedrooms mimicked her mother's house (plus one), but the light wasn't sickly and wane. The master owned the windows and balcony seen from the sandy perch outside. As below the upstairs was furnished so a canopied king ruled this space. Sephiroth laid his hands to the flower girl's shoulders, and she looked back and up with a smile. Their host opened the curtains here as well to reach the balcony door, and Aeris slipped from the once general's grasp, but reached back right away for his hand.

"Further view here," Kes said without need, stretching his right foot with a grimace. The wood slats were warm so blessed by the sun beneath the Cetra's unshod soles. She stepped forward to lean against the rail, reality blending with once empty dreams. The wind tossed her braid and ruffled her skirts, and Sephiroth gave his gaze to the sun. White was invading the blue of the sky with darker brethren beneath. He could smell the soon storm and remembered her reaction in the depths of that last angry night.

The other bedroom was half the first one's size, but had a bay window to its credit. Then the one in the back had a balcony if smaller that faced the sea stone stairs. Besides even that it held a back door that led to the top of the wall.

"There's no basement of course." Kes wiped at his brow. "Not this close to the sea." He gestured down the long hall to a second set of steps. "But there's an attic to make up for that. Now I'm done with stairs, at least going up, but you can have a look if you wish."

Aeris almost danced up them to the wide sunlit space that was high enough for Sephiroth to stand. It was filled with the scent of cedar and rose that helped offset its emptiness. The flower maid bit her lip as he wrapped his arms around her, shafts of sunlight framing this grace.

Kes was sitting by the downstairs window rubbing his foot in the speckled light. The little maid's steps made his eyes flick over as she sat on the opposite end, while the man dressed in black with his silver frost hair stood right by her side.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to know how much, if you're interested at all." His voice was casual as he massaged his toes beneath the fabric of his shoe. Aeris almost clasped her hands before they wavered soft down to her lap. Sephiroth remained impassive though his pupils were sharpened to cut.

"Y-Yes," she admitted. "I am interested. How much would it cost to rent, a-and would utilities be included?"

"Utilities?" Kes threw his gaze up at her. "You mean like electricity?"

"Well…yes." The flower girl rubbed her hands, sudden shyness creeping in. Warm palms descended to her thin shoulders, as their host chuckled without spite.

"No one pays for power here, miss."

"Wh-What do you mean no one pays?" Her fingers did curl to her chest at that as Aeris leaned forward so stunned. Sephiroth who'd turned his attention to her slid his gaze to their host in stark light. There was no trick or lie in his words or their shade, and behind the general's blank face, he was curious.

Kes gestured toward the ocean and shore as the sea breeze swirled the sands. "Who would charge for the wind to blow? That's like demanding gil for the waves. They both just happen. Why would we charge? We learned our lesson from corruption."

"Oh gods…this explains the windmills." Aeris covered her cheek. "How could I be so dense?" A soft squeeze to her shoulder quelled self-deprecation, but not all the questions on her tongue. "But…what about the conversion from air to light."

Kes waved that away like an inquisitive fly. "It's nothing, miss. You could take a tour. We have nothing to hide."

"Where I come from," Sephiroth's said, low voice stilling the motes in the sun, "things such as that were kept shuttered by shadow as secret as blue to the blind."

The man's fingers dug deeper into his foot as he turned away from brief emerald light. "W-Well, we…tried to learn better, sir, and not do what caused…well you surely know your history. I won't insult you be saying it now."

"Indeed." _I _do _know, _he said to himself, turning back to his little flower. _I was the horror called forth from the dark, but you will never know that. That's the blessing you enjoy thanks to her. You're all…you're all lucky, and my little rose will be the same. She'll live among you and be of you…that's the greatest gift I can give. _

"Anyway miss." Kes stretched out his foot with a grimace denouncing his pain. "It would just be rent I'd be needing from you, and that's 500 gil a month."

Aeris folded her hands quietly and made herself meet his eyes. "I'd have to…think about it," she told him and Kes gave her a shrug.

"Think all you want. No one wants this place. They say it's too close to the sea…as if there was such a thing." He snorted halfway under his breath. Louder he said, "Just so you know, everything's included." His gaze caught a wave sparkling in the now misting sun. "We never even slept in the bed…"

"That seems very generous," the flower girl acquiesced.

"I'd also of course fix anything needing fixing before and during your stay. My right foot's a bit crooked from too many battles with that craftily quiet sea, but I'm sound enough for handiwork."

"Again thank you." Aeris meant the words as her mind so softly swirled. She suddenly stood needing the sea breeze to clear cobwebs of thoughts away. Kes hauled himself up with a glance to the general not wanting to be caught rude again.

"Well like I said, you take your time. No one else has even looked." A grudging smile cracked his lips as he showed them to the door.

The wind had picked up but the sun battled through, and Aeris shut her eyes to salty breeze. She'd have to check her mother's gil and see what she could do. Then strong arms slid around her waist and the worry went flitting away.

"We'll contact you soon," Sephiroth told Kes, the man waving off any urgency.

"Now or then, it doesn't matter." He hobbled back toward the sea stairs, pausing at the bottom to squint back. The once general kept his face placid, eyes leaking neon bright. Kes tapped his good foot against sanded stone, nodded to Aeris, but addressed Sephiroth. "I bought this house to please my wife. May you have better luck." With a grunt he hauled himself up the stairs before Aeris's blush was blown away.

* * *

_Author's Note: The tea Sephiroth and Aeris drink at breakfast actually exists in real life. I was drinking that very brew when I was working on this story and I just **had **to include it in the narrative. I've never written a story where characters don't drink tea or there isn't a tea time. I'm kind of a huge anglophile *blushes* Anyway, if you're curious where you can find it, just message me! I love talking to all of you lovely people :)  
_


	12. The Whispers and the Dreaming Sea

"**I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to lose.  
**

**Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose…"**

**-Sarah McLachlan "I Will Remember You"**

**Chapter 12**

**The Whispers and the Dreaming Sea**

They lunched on the beach not far from the house. She ate while he merely looked on. Aeris couldn't help but turn to peer back though a stone seemed to grow in her heart. Life in Midgar had taught her practicality and that dreams were for feeding dead embers. The ocean crept in and she shut her eyes drowning in leather and pure winter skin. Visions behind taunted the maid, and a tear cut through her lash veil. _There's enough salt in the air, and I'm a silly, dumb girl to think such foolish thoughts. _ She refused grief as his arms wrapped around, and Sephiroth lifted her up as he stood. Blue skies had been swallowed and even the sea, though it still whispered, had turned sadly grey. "The storm's coming soon," he said with a quick sniff as the Cetra curled into his chest.

The breeze had matured into almost full gale, and Aeris shivered for want of her coat. Frantically rubbing her hands on chilled arms, she tried to force some warmth back in. A harmony of buckles clinked in her ears and sweet heat was dropped over her shoulders. Aeris blinked up to the wind whipping silver across alabaster skin. More than new warmth made the flower girl blush as he fixed black leather around her slight form.

"Sephiroth, no! I'll get sand in your coat." She tried peeling it off, but his hands though gentle were adamant. He fastened the top buckle which came down to her waist as the length dragged behind like black train.

"Hush, little one." He laid lips to her brow, and the tears in her eyes fought the fall. "There have been far worse things than sand on this coat. You know that too well, Aeris."

"But what about—"

"You know I won't be cold." He smiled as he tossed wind-blown hair from his face and offered the maid his hand. Aeris gathered the leather in one of her fists for even fastened is slid off her shoulders. The complexity of straps and buckles rang softly in her clutch. She was thankful he'd left his epaulets in their room for she couldn't bear such heavy armor.

Entrusting her small fingers to his, the flower maid gave up trying to hide her awe. _Does that lush moonlit mane taunt the skin on his back or is he so used to it he feels nothing at all? _She blushed as he smiled, the softest of chuckles waiting behind his lips. Where his skin ended and hair began was near impossible to tell just by hue. _My fingers could find it, _she thought and quick shyness turned her head to watch the sand twist like beige snakes. The coat slipped just slightly, but enough for bare shoulder to swim into his view.

Emerald yielded before sultry jade to paint light on that perfect pale palette. He knew she was clothed even under his coat. _But even a monster can dream. Have you had your fill of looking at me, Aeris? _It would be playful and teasing and wrong, but she wet her lips and the sigh of the sea became a beckon for what couldn't be. Aeris tried hiking his coat to her hips and that lifted the skirts of her dress. For someone so short her legs were quite long and the sunscreen had kept them unblemished. The motion pulled Sephiroth's gaze to her, and there was no armor for this. He drew her near so she leaned on his arm where hard muscle warmed her check.

"You know you'd make a very poor pillow…" she tittered peering up.

"You had no problem this morning, little rose, resting against my chest." The wind attempted to scatter his bangs as they broke against her face. Lips so pink could beg only one purpose, and he bent to take it with her sigh.

The weight dropped from heaven like the plate long ago, and the kiss shattered in plaintive cry. She was in his arms and trembling wildly though the rain was barely a mist. Through an almost dusk dark, Sephiroth's eyes gleamed, the only part of his face so astonished.

"I have you, little flower," he promised. "Nothing can hurt you. There's no need to be afraid." She whimpered still trying to bury herself in both his coat and his embrace. "Isn't this part of the world that you love?" He kept his voice taut to cage the smile. "What does your dear friend say?"

"It thinks it's funny…" It would've been petulant if the little Cetra wasn't so scared. "A-And just because I love this world it doesn't mean I adore every aspect." Her eyes were tight shut as more thunder wandered the dark painted vaults of the sky. "I'm not particularly fond of poison ivy either, but I do accept its existence. Just because you love something, it doesn't mean you love every part." The faintest slice of summer cut his face, and the general carefully tightened his grip. Her teeth chattered now and Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, while laying a palm to her cheek. "I-It sounds like the world is coming to an end, splitting apart at the seams. Th-Then the…horror will come rushing in, the darkness and all between. I know it's silly…I know it's not true, but it frightens me all the same…"

Salt was salt, but he could've smelled her tears buried deep in a thousand oceans. _All these terrors, little flower…is it because you're with me, and I'm the ultimate nightmare?_ He swept the maid up still wrapped in his coat and began to stride across the sands with long steps. She locked her fingers in moon drunk silk as the heavens grumbled above.

"This coat…" Her voice melted to whimper as another dull roar rent the sky. Aeris swallowed and tightened her grip to which Sephiroth held her closer. "This coat," she tried again, "I-I like it." Subdued summer fixated on his face. He kissed her cheek in gentle assurance that she need not try to speak, but his flower was stubborn, and he shook his head as she whispered, "It smells like you…"

A spear of lightning pierced the clouds like silver borne death from the sky. Sephiroth covered her ear with a his palm, but Aeris still stiffened to what chased the light. "And that, oh that." She shook. "Dear gods, what if it catches us? I-"

"Do you know I can move faster than you can blink?"

"Y-You can?" She did so in surprise to his mild smile.

"As long as I concentrate."

"So…you can move faster than the lightning?" She gave him a sideways glance.

"Well…no, not quite that fast, little flower. It's part light so it's quicker than me, but it's electrified, so I can tell where it's going to strike. I've…learned how to avoid that. Even now the air smells like a hot iron left in cold meant for winter's kiss."

She shuddered but he knew it wasn't the storm and the smolder of jade almost woke pride. "Is it…different from Mako?"

"Very much so, little one." Her eyes were full open, almost wide to her awe, and Sephiroth swore he could see slightest smile. "It's clean and makes the raindrops taste pure." He lifted his head and flicked out his tongue, and Aeris couldn't help the soft laugh. His motion was fast so she barely saw pink, but his lips matched that hue in the dim.

The Cetra attempted to taste the rain, too. Drops speckled her nose and brushed the tears from her cheeks before one found its way to her lips. It was cool as the air and pure as he said, but she didn't taste it alone. His tongue was still quick to slow slide along hers as his hand covered half of her face. The next report from the sky still made Aeris jump, but if asked, she could not have said why. Even through the storm the ocean still whispered, and the thunder faded before dying alone. The sea took its bones but let the rain stay for the Planet thought that was enough.

"I never asked you, Aeris," he murmured with his teeth pressed against her rouged lips. "Does this place satisfy you, little one? Do you like the house we saw?"

She had her hand to his cheek as her eyes snapped open, and his narrowed at summer in doubt. She tried to recede it, but it was too later, and he held the maid close in concern.

"I…did. I loved it, Sephiroth, it's just…"

"What is it 'just,' little flower?" The shadow of ire burned under his words that someone had frightened his rose. _The lame homeowner? Was there something I missed? She was never once out of my sight._

"Well…" Her mind raced for she was already a burden and his other obligation called loud. "There…there are no flowers here." It had been quickly noticed throughout the whole town. Not a single bloom was bright sprung. The air pulsed with spring, despite the cool breeze, and the Cetra expected such bounty, but the Whispers, so lovely, had not even one daisy, and that seemed to her quite strange.

Sephiroth chuckled to fading heat, happy no one needed to die. "That's not true, little one."

"Have you seen some?" she asked, brightening in his light.

"I'm holding one in my arms."

She blushed as he shook the bangs from his face, one tip painting soft dew on her cheek. His lips were half-lifted in what would've been smirk had not gentleness now ruled his face. Lids lowered to keep rain from tarnishing emerald, the thick fringe clung wet to his cheeks. For the angle, the worse kept from soaking her so he bore the brunt of the storm. Drops shimmered in silver on shadowed daylight to crown him in mist and sorrow. _It's like his hair has drunk its fill of moon and spills the excess from the edges…_

She slid a strand behind his ear and let it play through her fingers like water. "You'd think your hair being so light it would take the hue of the dusky sea, but it doesn't….instead it shines right through like a thousand diamonds at noon."

"Do you miss them, Aeris?" He turned to her then and their lips were mere inches apart.

"Miss what, diamonds?" She initially blinked so confused, then again to a spare drop's invasion.

"Your lilies white as ice."

"Oh." Her teeth found her lip as a finger twisted moonlight. "I think of them…all the time. They were paler than your hair."

Her took her hand and gave it a kiss, holding longer to drive out the cold. "The Whispers will not be flowerless long, now that you're here, little rose." _Soon you'll leave her…you'll leave her forever. She'll be safe in this place and you know it. She won't need you anymore. No one will again. You'll be less than a ghost lost in cold white seeking what you don't deserve to find. _His obligation to her was running out. Thinking otherwise was like taming the tide. He was so used to the sound of her heartbeat and the soft, summer scent of her skin. Her tiny form in his embrace, curled against in utter trust. _This is where she runs for fear…right into my arms. _His dark torn heart beat once for joy before sorrow dragged it down.

"It's sadder today…your poor, broken heart," she said, suddenly looking up. His hair could not hide it, nor could his face. It was laid bare before her eyes. Aeris gave a little, "Oh," curling fingers on his cheek.

The instant was gone where the mask could've saved him, and Sephiroth lowered his head for shame. _I don't want to leave you, Aeris. I want you in my arms til the death of time, but this moment won't last, and I don't deserve it…I don't deserve it even now. Even if I had no grave to find, you are not for me._

A golden beam cut a path through the sea from a crack near the horizon. Sephiroth stopped glad for the distraction as the rain misted a rainbow on blue. Their meeting had been a bit later than planned and evening was fast approaching. Obfuscated in storm, the wrinkling waves now bright lit the sun's resting place. "Look, Aeris," he called the command stirring her gaze slowly away from his face. "Look at the sea. How it swallows the dusk in soft fire." He turned back to her more interested in the light so brightened by her joy. "You'll view this fair sight every eve, but it'll never come close to your beauty."

"Nor yours, Sephiroth…" she murmured so swallowed by pulsing Mako light.

"My full name now?" He smiled at the re-given title then turned his gaze back to the waves. "Then at night the moon and a myriad stars all shimmering against the sea." Emerald bright slid back to her, pupils thinned by that path of light. "That all will be yours, little flower," he promised.

"You think so?"

The flat tone made him search her face. She was not meant for dejection, and the general wondered why she carried it now. "I know so."

She answered his look with a kiss on the cheek that Aeris hoped would satisfy. It was better than a match in unending darkness, but it didn't lift his concern.

The sun cracked the vault and the rain tried to muster, but soon even the mist gave away. Aeris wished it return even with thunder for it would explain the damp on her cheeks. _What am I going to do dear friend? Soon he'll go away. _The Planet thrummed and the ocean sighed, white caps lapping the shore.

"Are you alright, Aeris?" The low voice shut her eyes. He was walking again and the motion was soothing, almost enough to forget.

"I'm okay. I just…" She forced a weak grin. "I'm just such a burden to you…I'm keeping you from what you seek."

He shook his head. "_This _obligation is far better than the next one I must face, and you know your weight is nothing." He smiled, shifting her to one arm. "But your presence is better than light."

Her head found his shoulder. "If I'm a rose, what then would you be?"

"A shadow, a ghost, or a thorn." He looked ahead as Aeris sat up seeking cracks in the flawless mask.

"A white shadow maybe," she conceded that one. "That's similar to a ghost. You're most definitely not the last, unless you're thinking a thorn to offset my rose." Daylight splashed upon his far cheek but even shaded his face broke all molds. "And that's not possible because you're lovelier than me."

Sephiroth turned to her incredulous, as Aeris inhaled at beauty unleashed. "Your eyes are cruel, little flower, to show you such blatant lies."

"They're not lies, Sephiroth." But he looked away so she was caught in the echo of light. "The Planet itself insists on this truth." The flower girl gave it a half-reproachful nudge. "And it's always tried flattering me." She sighed and shut her eyes again, sliding her arms around his neck. The yawn wouldn't wait, and though his shoulder mocked marble, it was still a warm place for her head.

The once general smiled, eyes lighting the sea, as he slid the Cetra back to both arms. "Are you comfortable, little flower," he asked glancing down. It was meant to be a quick look to confirm, but once spilled, the emerald could only stay.

"Yes…very much so, Sephiroth. Comfortable, warm, and safe." Her braid and bangs were haphazard and damp, stray strands tangled across her face. He'd never seen anything more beautiful in his life, and he bent to kiss her brow.

Aeris smiled and buried her fingers still deeper in silken, moon-kissed hair. _If everyone could feel this safe and protected, how wonderful would this world be? _The image of children huddled in gloom made the Cetra suppress a whimper. They had only each other, and that wasn't enough for the dark plate so heavy above. She didn't want to count them for she knew there were less, and her dear friend was silent just letting her see as mournful music awoke memories.

"Were you always this sleepy, my little flower?" Midgar dissolved in the thrum of his voice. Aeris couldn't tell him for no words had been formed to express her gratitude at being distracted.

"No," she answered half opening her eyes to the worry on her guardian's face. "Remember I told you? I only sleep well when I'm safe." It was the brief flash that proved his surprise for his expression never moved.

"Then…dream of light, little flower." He quieted his voice and her repose was almost instant. She looked even tinier in his arms, wrapped in his great black coat, but more than that she looked so happy, and Sephiroth could not fathom why. Her brow did furrow beneath his scrutiny and the general hoped his thoughts hadn't snuck in.

The whirr of the Whispers bounced off the waves without overriding the natural hush. It was so different from what he had known for the windmills too helped this balance. Gone was the reek and the pall of corruption…unless he counted himself. _Which I do. Always and ever…but she forgives me. _He remembered it like a lost song, the melody once found destroying all false notes as though they had never been sung.

Aeris did dream to his soft command, but it was not light as Sephiroth had wished. Through the Whispers it started, and she held her shoes and flower basket in either hand. It was whole as though it had never been broken by her attackers so deep in the slums. She was desperate as sand clung soft to her soles for she needed gil to survive. In Midgar her stock had been quite a bounty, but here in the sun it wasn't enough. The flowers in her clutch were more beautiful than ever in colors the rainbow did not know, but the townsfolk looked at her oddly for they had never seen such things before. They patted her head and said she was pretty but for flowers they had no use. The sky above grew darker and darker until it turned into iron and steel, and she stood on the grave of a thousand dead children as the petals blew over their bones.

She awoke with a start to tears on her face and a gentle voice calling her name. Their room in the Chatham coalesced in her eyes, raindrops sprinting along down the window. Her protector's low, familiar tone made the flower girl twist around. Sephiroth was sitting close to the bed, legs crossed as he read her old book. Upon seeing her awake he laid down the volume open upon his knee. The black leather coat clothed his shoulders again making flawless skin gleam like frost. Aeris glanced down to see her white dress and gave a huff of self-annoyance. _It's probably now wrinkled and that's all my fault for falling asleep again. _The sight of him cooled this a bit for she could give him nothing but gratitude. There were two blankets wrapping her round, and the query swam in her eyes.

"You were shivering a bit," the once general told her. "How do you feel, little one?"

"I'm alright," she assured, rubbing her arms as she blinked her gaze away. Sephiroth stood and placed the volume still open upon the nightstand. The Cetra lifted her head to follow his eyes, which held all the expression on his face. He sat down beside and took her hand, while Aeris tried not to wilt for that scrutiny. She couldn't imagine being interrogated by one such as him. _Those pupils would slice right through to a truth I didn't even know I carried. _But as always his palm was gentle and warm, while his beauty stilled her gaze on his face.

"You seem troubled, little flower," her guardian began, "when by all rights you should be glad. A beautiful house by the dreaming sea that whispers in its sleep. You whisper, too…did you know that?"

"Wh-What do I say, Sephiroth?"

_Something you must soon forget. _But he only sadly smiled. "What is your worry, Aeris?" Turning her hand, he gently traced the lines upon her palm.

_Not just when we kiss, not just when he speaks, his very touch stills my troubles. _Opening lids she didn't know where shut, Aeris forced herself to remember. Her guardian's brows furrowed pale skin as he tilted his head.

"I can't afford the house."

One brow lifted high, but he gave no response and just gently swirled his thumb on her palm.

"I-I mean, it's…too big for me anyway." She pushed on before the silence could grow. "I'm…just a small girl. What need do I have for an over large seaside house?"

His frown said plainly and without words that she was so much more than just a "small girl."

I-I know how much gil I have, Sephiroth." Speech tumbled out, a poor barrier to Mako light. "It's only enough for a few months. In the slums, well…" Aeris shrugged. "It's…different, you know? Unless I find some work in the Whispers…but," she recalled with utter dejection, "there are no flowers here. Maybe…" She pressed a knuckle to her lips. "Maybe I could work at this inn. They'd probably give me a room. Then I could stay here and save until I could afford to rent."

"You can stay here as long as you wish, Aeris," Sephiroth promised, his voice barely besting the rain.

The flower girl jerked her head up to half-lidded emerald smolder. She tried to see what he was hiding as the Planet hummed in her ears. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no," she admonished, waving a finger. "I _know_ what you're thinking, and you're not going to do that. You are _not _going to pay my rent!"

"I have no intentions," he solemnly promised, "of paying your rent, little one."

"Oh." Surprise shut her mouth with a click, finger curling like grass in the sun. The instant she'd thought it, the flower girl had made ready for an arduous fight, believing it better if they _were _still enemies as she'd claim an easier win. He'd insist under the guise that he owed her her life. _You've given it back to me, Sephiroth. That and so much more. You rescued me. You brought me here. But even greater you're my friend. I needed that more than anything, and that's what you gave to me. _She gazed up in gratitude and sighed in relief.

"Good." She swallowed. "I was worried you'd insist—"

"I'm going to buy you the house."

Rain gurgled in the gutters and drummed lazy fingers on roof and window pane. Each wrinkle in the distant sea welcomed the drops like lost kin. The soul of the Planet beneath the damp sands whispered love in its daughter's ear, and the flower girl felt her heart pulled taut, each thread of it close to torn.

"No." The tension eased but little in the explosion of that one word. "You are not buying me a house. I refuse to accept that," she declared glaring up, and those eyes burned with sadness above. With motion so swift it fell between blinks, he slid from the bed to the floor. On his knees looking up, still holding her hand, the great general didn't care that he begged.

"Please Aeris…" He bowed his head. Summer stole the burn from jade to warm her cheeks with tears.

"Y-You—" She swallowed gathering the pieces of the argument that she had let drop. "You can't afford to buy me a house!"

"I can, little flower." When he raised his face, she covered her mouth to stem the tide of tears. "I told you as long as you're with me, you'll never want or need. Even though…" He looked away briefly. "Even though I will be gone, I can protect you still. What is a house but protection, my flower, a shelter from sun and storm?"

"But you don't even know how much it will cost." Aeris valiantly tried to use logic.

"That doesn't matter, little one."

"Or if it's even for sale!" She cried desperately.

"The sign I read said 'sale or rent.'" The Cetra muttered under her breath. "Unless," Sephiroth did concede, "he's rescinded on the last. Then…" He shrugged. "I'll have to persuade him that selling would be for the best."

"No Sephiroth," Aeris gasped in horror, "you are _not _going to use manipulation against that poor man!"

His face so flawless cracked with pain. "I never said I would do that, Aeris."

"But you were…thinking it…" The flower girl trailed off for everything in his expression said that he was not.

"No, little one, I never would. I'd never do that again. Gil would be the great persuader not what would be mental rape." He reached forward and took her other hand. "Aeris, I can't lie to you. If it were between seeing you hurt and invading another's mind, you can guess which path I'd choose. The aftermath would flay me raw for what I'd done before…but there is no torture I wouldn't endure in order to see you safe."

"Oh Seph…" She squeezed his great hands, knowing she couldn't make a dent in his power. A heavy sigh left her spirit no lighter as she met those glittering eyes. "If…I let you do this, will your guilt be assuaged?"

"No, little flower." He wouldn't break his promise so quickly and give her any lies. "That burden will never release my heart, but the bonds will be slightly lessened knowing you're happy and safe."

Aeris couldn't help it and started to sob. Maybe his powers of manipulation manifested even beyond his control. It was a frightening implication, but the little Cetra's hands were encased in his and she felt nothing but strength benign. "Will this make you happy, Sephiroth?" She searched his face through her tears.

"My happiness doesn't matter, little one." He bowed his head in silver surrender, and Aeris could only sigh.

"Somehow I knew that you'd say that."

"It would make me sadder if you didn't accept it." He looked directly at her. "Please, Aeris…" She squeezed her eyes shut for he was not meant to beg. "I owe you so much. Let me take care of you." The sudden hand on her cheek awakened her skin and lifted her lids to utter pain. "I can't leave you…" He blinked quickly twice and freed her fingers when Aeris tugged. "I…I can't leave you…" She laid her hand over and leaned into his palm. "Without knowing you're happy and safe."

"I…" she stuttered, "I can…take care of myself, you know." It was an attempt to be indignant, but she pressed her cheek harder to his palm.

"Of that, little flower, I have no doubt." Aeris imagined the sad half-smile. "You managed so long in the slums so dark. Let me help you live in the light."

She did not say yes, neither did she nod, but Sephiroth knew he had won. Aeris for her part could not understand how slivered eyes could be so pleading. She was in his arms in between the seas sighing as tears ran down black leather like rain.

_Are you weeping for joy or weeping for grief? But why would you grieve, little flower? _He stood up and held her tight as Aeris shook and sobbed. There was joy in her grief and grief in her joy, and none could see in between. When the force of them both made her weak, his strong arms kept her standing, and when the end of the tears stuck to her lashes and lids, he cleaned them gently away. The salt did not deter the kiss from above as she drowned in a silken moon sea.

The rain fell slow as evening wore on, so Sephiroth opened the window. Without the fear of lightning and doom, the flower girl enjoyed the fragrance. The melding of fresh with salt, wind, and sand let Aeris's mind still for the moment, and the breeze was blowing a fortunate way to not bring the elements in. The Planet full burble like a bird in spring plumage, and Aeris tried to ignore as she smiled. _This is where you want me, my dear friend…I can fulfill that request if not the other. That you must cease for it won't be. Obligation is the master of all._

Dinner was ordered though she wasn't hungry for the turmoil still trembling inside, but her protector would worry, and the food here was good as she ate in the quieting eve. Then later when night cleared the remnants of rain, he read to her by the starlight. She followed the words by the light of his eyes til she shut summer green to just listen. _I don't want to wake…I don't want to drown. I'll only drown in sorrow. _As the final word faded, she met his gaze where her purest image dwelled, caught but uncut in the sliver of black amidst the emerald light.

Sephiroth tilted her chin and parted her lips as the silver cascade washed them both. It took only one hand to undo her loose braid so chestnut waves buried his fingers. _Oh, little flower,_ _I want you so, but how can you be touched by me? Your dear friend would open and swallow me down to crush me with darkness forever…_

He pulled away with a soft bite for her lip, but Aeris reached up for more. Lifting the flower maid onto his lap, the once general wrapped both arms around. "You're like the moth that dreams of the fire or the lily that yearns for the frost."

"Maybe I'm just drawn to the brightest and most beautiful."

Sephiroth chuckled, "I'd never take you for a narcissist, Aeris.

She squeezed the hard shoulders beneath black leather as he slanted his mouth over hers. When breath finally failed her, she threw her head back so his lips glided over her throat. _Please don't leave me…_she ached to say it in the part of her mind still coherent, but she couldn't beg for that. She couldn't be so selfish to ask him to stay when he'd been denied so much. The poorest child in the darkest slums had its mother's memory for comfort, but the greatest of generals could never claim that and had to search the northern wastes for her grave. A single tear stirred behind her closed lids, but she'd wept enough for this one day.

When evening deepened to the ocean's sigh, he held her still face to face. Changed into night clothes to his removed leather coat so silver cloaked him crown to knee. Aeris twirled a bang round her finger as her guardian laid lips to her brow. It was impossible not to stare at him, the angel's face and flawless skin. Her hands slid over the marble shoulders as Sephiroth gazed down with halved lids. She wanted to wish that none of this was real and that her life was the slums so dark. Better that than what more tomorrows would bring. Better that than the day they would part.

"Just promise me one thing."

"I'll promise you all." He sealed his eyes but light gleamed round the seams.

"Don't leave without saying goodbye…"

Sephiroth drew her close as the wind tickled the drapes, murmuring, "I promise."

So Aeris fell asleep in the warmth of his arms, and when she awoke, he was gone.

* * *

_Author's Note: Certainly not as evil of a cliffhanger as the last one...at least I don't think. I'll let you all be the judges. Thank you so much for your continual comments and favorites. It means that world to me. Oh, and just to let you know, the halfway point was reached in the middle of this chapter at least with respect to the number of those :)_


	13. Establishments

"**Until we have seen someone's darkness, we don't really know who they are**

**Until we have forgiven someone's darkness, we don't really know what love is."**

**-Marianne Williamson**

**Chapter 13**

**Establishments**

The sky was clear, the dawn spoke of roses, and Aeris was alone. Wrapped again in two blankets, she waded from fading dreams. Sitting up to the spill of freed chestnut, the flower girl squinted in daylight. _I'll have to get used to that…seeing the sun, _and she frowned as she rubbed her eyes. The quiet of a humble seaside town was so different from the mute of the slums, for though the sea ever hushed, it was part of a silence that never held distant screams.

Aeris sat cloaked in this peace to the occasional gull call and wondered about her heart. It was jack-knifing so sharp to the side as though a stone grew in its midst. Neither window nor chair revealed her protector, nor did she hear the shower. The old book of poems remained open close by, and for some reason that sight soothed her pulse. An open book meant there was more to the story, though that seemed a silly girl's wish. A slip folded beneath caught summer washed eyes, and she reached to retrieve a note.

_My Dearest Aeris,_

_I shall return later. I've ordered breakfast for you._

_Your faithful guardian,_

_S._

Like everything about him his handwriting was beautiful, and the letter shook in the flower maid's hand. _Is there anything you don't do to perfection? _she thought in sweet relief. Of course he had kept his promise just made the night before, though Aeris's lips were a little too sore to bite them in shame of her doubt. She read the note again, tracing the curve of the "S," penned in flowing calligraphy. The space between his words and the elegant mark kept drawing the Cetra's gaze, as though he yearned to say much more, but something had stilled his hand.

The knock on the door made Aeris jump with the letter clutched to restarted heart, but it was only the breakfast he'd mentioned therein, though she marveled at his judgment of time. The terns and the gulls were noisy companions, and she missed the scent of frost white skin. Her tea was vanilla with rose curling under, but she refused to soil the flavor with salt. It was amazing to her that he knew she'd want toast with strawberry jam and eggs. She didn't want to consider he'd delved through her mind, and twice accuse him in such a short while.

Afterwards a shower so hot to paint pink, while Aeris remembered his skin wouldn't burn. _Is this how it'll be? _she chastised herself, rinsing the shampoo from her hair. _Are you going to be like a stupid, young girl with a silly high school crush? You faced death and beyond. You called down the light in order to save this world. _The world she'd saved chuckled like a thousand strings thrumming beneath the flower girl's feet. Aeris ignored it, which drew deeper mirth, as she finished and groped for her towels. _I'll have to find flowers or grow them myself. I managed well enough in the slums. Something to focus on…maybe the sea will give better advice then you. _

Draping the one towel around her small body, she used the other to dry her soaked hair. The glistening waves would tangle and soon if she didn't get a brush through them quick. A twinge of envy for silver so smooth pushed her towards this task. She eyed the hairdryer and debated the danger of wet hair in the thrall of the breeze. The breath from the sea was gentle if cool, but the sun would soon warm the wind. Then Aeris remembered she need not ever feel guilty for power here. An endless stream of laughter tickled through her toes, and she stamped to her dear friend's delight.

When her hair was dry, she brushed it out until the chestnut was soft and more tamed. Then the flower girl recalled her clothes were in the satchel by the bed. She _was _wearing a towel, but that wouldn't stop the look that would fill gleaming eyes. Blushing beyond what she knew was polite, the little Cetra forced her mind to be still. Scanning the room, she tiptoed soft out unable to ignore the mussed sheets. She wanted to climb on the bed and just wait. _I shall return…_and so he had promised.

Scoffing at her foolishness, Aeris grabbed her travel bag before daring to drop the towel. Her bare skin shivered and this was not from the breeze through the open panes. _If Sephiroth came back in the midst of my dress, I'm not sure I would complete it…oh gods. _She stifled a giggle. _When did I become so coy? _For better or worse, he did not return, and Aeris dressed herself in plain brown. She'd have to go shopping. The thought made her smile. It was normal and simple and free.

Back to the bathroom the flower girl went and lifted her locks back and high. The bangs she left forever free as she twisted the long tail of hair. _Here I can play_ _the silly, young girl. A pink ingénue if I had pink. _A jolt hit her gut for she did have her dress, stained doubly ancient with blood. Shaking herself from memory sharp, Aeris met the mirror's gaze. The image thrown back appeared happier than she, so she matched it for that stranger's sake.

Sitting on the bed, the Cetra dug through her satchel to retrieve scattered gil. She was a little ashamed it was in such disarray, but she'd no need of it until now. _You'll never want nor have need to spend a gil of your own…_the low voice echoed in her head, and even the memory tingled her skin. To make her hands do something besides tremble, she counted and recounted the notes, stowing it away in the dress's deep pockets, as a sudden worry made her freeze. She had no ID nor any way to prove she was who she was. _And who am I? Who shall I be? The maiden who saved the world? I just want to be Aeris, the flower girl, but can I ever be just that again?_

The room key was lurking beneath the old book and right beside Sephiroth's letter. Aeris thought for a moment and picked up the pen, tapping the end on her lips. _If he came back and found _me _gone, he'd probably think the worst. _The general's mask would break to this worry, and she placed the pen for her own sweet report.

_My dear and gentle guardian,_

_I, too, shall return and quite soon from errands about the town. I didn't want you to worry if you came back and found me gone._

_Thank you for breakfast. You always somehow know what I'll like._

_Your little flower,_

_Aeris_

The Cetra imagined the soft sad smile that would spread across his beautiful face. Mako light chasing the words as they fled from the sliver of his vision. He would like the way she'd referred to herself, his own sweet words rendered back. She left the note on top of the book and closed to window to ensure it would stay.

The sea had been stiller than silent shadows and even the dark dared not breathe. Stars spoke in whispers and he prayed that his eyes would not waken the sleeping maid. Sephiroth untangled himself and wrapped her in blankets for the wind had grown colder that eve. Aeris half-murmured, but he silenced his ears to not hear her calling his name. How she could dream about him without nightmare was beyond his comprehension. The general walked to the window, inhaling the air, salt and mist cutting his nostrils. Inside was summer and Sephiroth smiled before caging his face once more. Because he couldn't resist, he went back to his flower. A lock of chestnut was tickling her cheek, slid aside as he kissed her temple. "I'll come back, little one. I won't break my promise." And his written words held to this truth. Forcing himself to not crush the pen, Sephiroth pored over those letters, but a note of brief parting was not the right place to lay what would be absurd.

The room door was the type that could lock from within and he did so before it was shut. There was not even a desk clerk but merely a bell being courted by both dust and rust. The lights were dim, not that that mattered for no human eyes were begging to see. Outside the ocean murmured and foam vied with the stars for whiteness in capping the waves. The streetlamps pulsed soft and did not compete with this dance of what nature had wrought, but Sephiroth wanted the nooks without light, and slipped down the stairs like a ghost. In a town such as this no one was about. _No one wholesome…_the once general thought. _I need to find those that skulk in the dark. The ones who would hate to find me. When the hours are small and the shadows are smaller to make room for encroaching dark._

He halved his great eyes to shield the bright light though it never could be diminished. Then drew the sword from in between and it came clean to his hand. It rang soft once to greet an old friend though only his ears could hear. Blood called to blood in steel and flesh veins, and he sighed for he had missed its grip. With eyes narrowed, Sephiroth searched the blade, but no remnants of monster remained. He hoped it had died, but knew too well hope was a fool's waking dream. It had writhed itself free in torture and pain, and now probably waited and seethed. The darkness of memory bowed the pale face, but only pain cut his heart for that truth. He was half-tempted to enter that shadow realm to seek corruption out, but had other obligations this night. He did step through one layer to conceal himself and cast the Whispers in shimmery grey. Anyone wandering had no need to witness the terrible sight he must cut. Expressionless, tall, and with a sword like white fire, any townsfolk would die from fear. _If she saw me now… _He quelled agony, stalking the alleys with purposeful stealth.

Cats and rats fought their ancient battle and every now and then a dog would bark. The windmills were silent to simple ears, but Sephiroth heard the whirr of their wings. There was always a breeze here, always a wind from the sea unto the mountains. He gave the town's founders respect for their prudence in picking this locale of air. Behind the houses, around, between, the great general wound his way. Shifting Mako plastered dim with lurid, emerald green, but no murderers lurked, no burglars fled, and no rapists left their victims in blood.

Light laughter did catch Sephiroth's attention close to Wesker's Square. By a blinking streetlamp, a couple cavorted, the man reciting bad poetry. The general stood in plain view and invisible, watching with one raised brow. It was strange to think he'd had far better luck with the tiny rose he had slain. The Masamune dropped low to his morbid thought as the woman came running by. Even distracted he smooth stepped aside so she passed just a space from his form. Looking back from her companion's tug in shiver as if she'd brushed a ghost.

Down on the beach the great general could smell there were monsters far past the town. Closer to Costa and nowhere too near, this truth tried to fight obligation. _She'd never be foolish to venture through night. She survived Midgar's slums for too long._ The blood in the blade stirred the blood in his veins, but a statue did move more than he. When he drew the Masamune it meant death needed done for the sword was not called in vain, but in the town proper there was nothing to kill and nothing for him to fight. He could surely seek the beasts beyond the ken, but that would be for selfish purpose.

_I am useless this night. I'm useless here…I'm useless here to her…_

A man in the lobby smiled Aeris's way, peering over from the sign he was reading. A shot of adrenaline coursed through her limbs as he went back to his perusal. Her breath sounded loud through the waves of each beat before she recalled she was not in the slums. There had been no malice, no danger, no lust, just a simple and friendly grin.

The sky was the hue of warm, dusky sea, crinkling mist along the edges. Striations in blue cut through the clouds so sunlight could bleed in between. Aeris breathed deep the cool, sea-washed air made fresher from last evening's storm. Ruffling wind lifted her bangs, but she smiled as her braid proved too heavy. From the top of the stairs, she could see several ships out to sea from the southward dock. Then the sun broke the shroud and beat down in warning, and Aeris's skin sang of missing sunscreen. The obsidian steps would've been slick by the shore, but beneath her feet they just proved black glass. Buildings below did offer her cover, as she chastised herself for the lack.

_I could've just asked the desk clerk where the town's bank is…_but a little adventure in a place she was safe was a welcome change from her life in the slums. There were also the townsfolk who nodded or spoke as she saw or passed them was both strange and wonderful. The only thing amiss was her small hands were empty. Neither her guardian's fingers nor her flower basket lay within her clutch.

In Wesker's Square she circled round once and a woman asked if she were lost. The flower maid smiled and shook her head to a raised brow but conceded smile. The Cetra had glimpsed what she so sought behind a sundry store. She wondered if she would see Sephiroth, the flush creeping when the thought was half formed. But the maiden was lucky in pairs for composure would fail her if he'd been within. The bank also accepted she was who she was with neither issue for ID or name. The latter had her breathing relief for Aeris had no wish to be famous. She'd done what she'd done because it was needed and not to cultivate glory. Then the maid she wondered if he _had _been there to prep their minds for her arrival. _Stop it, _she chided as they counted her gil, _he said he would never do that._

Outside the Cetra blocked her eyes from the sun, which had burned through the layers of clouds. There was a quick haven behind the low bank, a longer shadow cast by a steeple. The church was formed of grey granite stone that must have been brought by the sea for such purpose. There was a graveyard slightly behind, and Aeris clutched her hands to her chest. _If only…_she wished, but wishes were foolish for _she'd_ died before the Whispers were born.

No flowers grew inside, just polished pews, not too fancy but not like her own. The nave had a carpet, the altar was clean, and the stained glass was whole without fissures. Aeris shut her eyes and brought herself back to her sanctuary in the slums. The light there was brighter to her sad surprise while her lilies grew wild and free. Fragrant white coated each inch of her church, scattered in ruins like snow. The vision allowed her to see slanted doors and children creep in with great care. Eyes dulled by poverty shed off their scales to the unfettered wonder of youth. The ones they picked renewed almost immediately for other tiny hands to embrace. The flower girl swept her tears away, but refused to let in shame. She could pray anywhere, through the Planet she could see, but it was still nice to know she could come here.

The upward walk back to the Chatham Inn left the little Cetra breathless. _I'll have to get used to climbing stairs, _she thought as she unlocked the door. The bed had been made and the room had been tidied, window opened and curtains spread. The freed wind had fluttered the note to the floor, and Aeris sighed as she picked up. Climbing onto the bed, she grabbed her book, too, before rereading his elegant lines. Then to the volume the page was there waiting for whimsy's little love song.

She'd only shut her eyes for what felt like a second nor did she hear the door, but when Aeris awoke an hour had passed and there he was before. The book was open over her stomach and her arm was behind her turned head. Monochrome coalesced into what was now dear, his eyes bleeding light to look down. Aeris rolled to her feet and rushed into his arms, which fulfilled their purpose closing her round.

_She runs to me again, _he thought squeezing her tight. _Right into a monster's embrace…_

"Oh you came back!"

"Did you think that I wouldn't?" The low voice gently chided. Holding her easily in his one arm, Sephiroth cupped her cheek with a smile. Leather shushed so smooth near Aeris's ear and the pauldrons gleamed in the sun. She wondered why now he was wearing his armor more than curious to where he had been.

"I knew that you would. You promised me you wouldn't leave without saying goodbye…" Her bitten lip froze the mask to his face so his smile forgot its joy.

_Why is this so important to you, Aeris? You should be glad to be quit of me. I'll always be your murderer…that can never change. Soon your life will start anew and then you can forget. _

In contradiction she pulled herself closer to bask in his presence and scent. Her hands were squeezed against his chest as the flower maid shut her eyes. He slid his other arm back around, and Aeris wanted this moment forever. To live right here, to forget about time and all that it would soon steal.

"With you," she began, "here in your arms is the safest I've ever been."

"It was, little flower, but you'll be safe in the Whispers far more than you are with me."

"That's not true, Sephiroth." She lifted her head and his bangs swept her cheeks as she blinked. How did she forget in these brief hours how beautiful he was? The light spread out from beneath his long lashes as her protector gazed sadly down. Aeris wet her lips and didn't miss the brief gleam as she said, "Who could dare hurt me where I am now? Held in the great general's arms."

Sephiroth sighed and looked away out the window, the sea breeze soft swaying his hair. "No one will hurt or bother you here, Aeris. I went out last night to check."

"That's where you where!" she exclaimed.

"Yes…initially."

"You went out to make sure everything was safe…" Dark thoughts dissolved to her voice. He peered back down into pure adoration that tightened his arms around. Aeris squeaked and his heart was cut as if caressed by his very blade.

"I'm sorry, little one."

"No, you're alright. I just forget how strong you are."

Sephiroth shrugged and Aeris just giggled unsurprised by his response. "It's just something else that was given to me. Another product of eugenics."

She laid a cheek against a cool buckle. "It may have just been 'given to you,' but you've protected me with it. That makes you worthy beyond anything. Worthy of more than forgiveness…."

"I'm worthy of nothing." He lifted her chin so her eyes were drawn into crystalline emerald flame. Aeris parted her lips but all words were lost. His glory had robbed her of speech. "Somehow I forgot how perfect you are, my beautiful, tiny rose. Innocent and also ever forgiving for an underserved wretch like me."

"Stop that." Aeris tried to make light, but her soft voice faltered to grief heavy as steely rain.

"For you I will, little flower," he conceded, "and I must tell you it is done."

"What's done?" she asked with furrowed brow.

"The house belongs to you."

Aeris buried her face in his chest and tried hard not to weep, while he rubbed her back between the blades and forced himself not to remember.

"So that's where else you went today…" It was muffled, but he still heard. Aeris sniffed and raised her head, tears ringing her summer eyes. "I suppose you won't tell me how much it cost?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "I would if you asked, but please do not. It didn't bankrupt me, I promise." His lips quirked up in a sideways smile as a tear escaped her clutch.

"I can never thank you enough for this…" She clasped her hands behind his neck. This forced her to stand on the end of her toes so he circled her waist with one arm.

"You've no need to thank me at all, little one. I owe you much more than a house."

"You think far too little of yourself, Sephiroth."

"No, Aeris, I think far too much…" He looked away and back out the window. Mercy was too much to bear.

The Cetra stretched up as tall as she could and caught his face in her little fingers. Surprised and amused despite his remorse, Sephiroth allowed her to turn it.

"Will nothing break this awful guilt? What else could you possibly do?"

_Maybe die for you, little flower, though corruption will never allow. _"Nothing on heaven or earth."

"I forgive you, Sephiroth."

Pain and joy shut his eyes. The Mako gleam, shaded but never extinguished, pulsed bright behind his lids. He fell to his knees with hard set jaw and laid his head to her heart.

"Oh little flower, say it again. Say you forgive me…"

"I forgive you. It was true yesterday. It was true in the past, and it will be true forever."

"Those words make guilt tremble and cling to hold on, but its claws are dug deep in my soul." He opened his eyes, the emerald washed sea parted by shadow so thin. "Do you think my mother forgives me, too?"

Aeris shook her head to palest tears. She laid her hand to his cheek and tried to capture his pain in her tiny palm. It wasn't enough and the Planet, too, lamented it could not hold so much grief.

"I'm sorry, little one, to make you weep. You don't deserve anymore sorrow."

"Neither do you…"

Sephiroth sadly smiled before standing again with still lowered head. Clearing her tears, he kissed her brow, more troubled by her sadness than his. "Did you find my note this morning?"

"I…did," she sniffed. The memory of their correspondence though did draw out a smile, and Aeris turned looking for the page. It was right on the bed, near enough to hand that she need not leave his arms. "Your handwriting is beautiful, but I'm sure you know that. It was like reading art."

Sephiroth chuckled low as he took the short letter, scanning the writing with a flick of his eyes. "I wrote this with my off hand…I wanted to see if I still could."

"Are you serious?" She snatched the letter back, rereading the promised words. "You did this with your right?"

"I was forced to be ambidextrous remember." His brow furrowed in scrutiny. "The left would've been far better." Aeris had to look again, and the general tilted his head. "I see that you wrote a brief note, too." And just as she pictured, the saddest of smiles lit his beautiful face. "You called yourself 'my little flower…'" Like forgiveness it filled his torn heart, but the rents would not let the joy stay.

"I…am your little flower," she told him placing her cheek on his chest.

_Oh Aeris…you can never be mine. I already…_had _you long ago. I lost all my chance in that fallen act. You'll find another who's far more worthy._

Aeris met his gaze with a bit of chagrin, which raised a frosted brow. "So you're not angry that I left the inn?"

"When have I been angry with you, Aeris? What gives me that right?"

The flower girl sighed but still managed to smile. It was a small relief. "I went to the bank after I ate breakfast, and I also found the church." Excitement crept over her little voice and he wanted that grin on his lips.

"That's good, little flower." He brushed her smooth cheek. "You should lay down a foundation. You should establish yourself in this place."

"You're really not upset or angry?" Her head slightly tilted and she searched his cool eyes seeking some shred of ire.

"Why would I be, Aeris? You're free, little one, and this is where you'll reside." He stood up straighter, shaking the hair from his face as it swept soft over her skin. "If I didn't think this place was safe, I would never have left you alone."

Sephiroth wouldn't tell her the turmoil he'd borne in making that decision last night. To ensure her security he had to leave her, which seemed counter to the cause, but taking her along in the dead of night would've been far worse. All his senses had told him the hotel was safe and she had a locked door for a guard.

"Be wary though for there are monsters beyond the edge of town." Aeris shook a bit and without a thought he carefully crushed her close. "It's alright, little one. Within town you're fine whether walking at morning or eve."

"Well I don't intend to go walking at midnight…unless I'm guarded by an angel." She covered her mouth but the giggle escaped, as Sephiroth bowed his head.

"That again, little flower?" His teeth cut the words as the general forced his gaze through the window.

"That always," she insisted, "you're the best kind again, the great and the beautiful, better than before the fall. You have to know this. You have to believe this." She didn't dare turn his face back around. Once was enough for indulgence, and he seemed to be steeped in pain. "Sephiroth, you quite literally picked me up and carried me away yet you claim you're not a hero."

"I'm not." He barely parted his lips and Mako seared double blue.

"How are you not?" She had such persistence for one so very small.

"Because of all I've done."

"All you've done also includes all you've done for me."

"All I've done in my last life nearly cost this world its future."

Aeris stretched to kiss his cheek, and he couldn't help but turn for her lips. The general bent to meet her halfway, and she silently thanked him for that. Fingers tangled in chestnut and frost-lit white as her lips yielded before his tongue. Her tiny waist trembled beneath his hands as they slid up her sides. Aeris pulled back to breathe, then he brushed her throat, and she hid the cry against his lips. Somewhere beyond what her skin could contain, she felt him undoing her braid. Passing long fingers carefully down and the binding could only obey. It shushed over his chest where the leather left bare, while he looked down with light on her face. The flower girl splayed against her protector with the Planet's joy in her heart. She remembered it then, the lay of her lilies, and Sephiroth cocked his head as he listened.

"Are you humming, little flower?"

"Oh, you can hear that?!" Her cheeks burned as the melody ceased.

"It's lovely. What is it?"

"A…song from the Planet. I always hummed it while tending my flowers. Do you…do you want to hear it?" she asked with tiniest voice, as shy as a child's first play.

"There are only a few things I want more."

Held breath escaped like captured breeze, before Aeris slowly inhaled. Then she hummed harmony with the great world, the melody without any words. Slow through her mind the soft petals shook as if woken by her sweet song. The pain in Sephiroth's face receded as he half veiled his eyes to the lay. It was soft as a dream on the last edge of night, hiding power in thinness of sound. _Just like her, _was his thought. _Everything about her tries to indicate weakness, but there hides the greatest strength, and yet she's not deceptive. She's not deceptive at all. It's this world that keeps her under wraps. It's greatest and gentlest weapon…_

The blush had drained to leave her pale for such passion was needed to sing. Aeris looked up worrying her lip with embarrassment waiting in the wings. He brushed a hand against her face and the flower girl shut her eyes.

"If I had heard that song just once, I could've endured a million times more. It would've filled my soul with so much light no torture nor madness could drive it out. Thank you for that, little flower," he whispered. "It's something I'll never forget."

"No one has ever heard me sing that…it was only for my flowers."

"You do me too great an honor then," Sephiroth said as he bowed his head. A palm to his chest made him look back up to forgiveness in summer eyes.

"I can't sing to them now, but I know they still grow unaided and bright in the slums." Her pretty face fell. "I guess they didn't need me at all." The general placed his hand over hers, completely covering the little fingers.

"Do you truly think that they would grow without your presence in this world?" Curling under a thumb he rubbed her soft palm. "You're the Planet's daughter, the one it loves best. I do not doubt here, in very short order, the flowers will outdo the waves."

"I wish you could see that…" She squeezed his hand so tight she hurt her own.

"Don't harm yourself, Aeris," he said to her gasp. "Not on account of me.

"I'm alright," she assured as he massaged the small hand. "I just wish you could witness that day, if it ever comes, when all the flowers bloom, but…I know what you have to do, Sephiroth, and you have every right to seek that."

He sighed and kissed the top of her head. "That's something else I found out today."

"Wh-What did you find out?" she asked, gathering worry on the edge of her face.

"Well, I bought a map and some things have changed from what you and I remember."

"Oh, can I see it?! Do you mind?"

"Of course I don't, little flower," he told her. _I only mind letting you go._

But he did so still to her matched chagrin and pulled a rolled tube from his coat pocket. The table where they had not eaten dinner was as clear as the night they'd arrived, so Sephiroth spread the paper there weighing the corners down.

"The salesman gave me quite a lock when I brought this up for purchase."

"Do you think he recognized you?" Aeris asked throwing a worried glance.

"No, nothing like that," Sephiroth assured, smoothing out the wrinkles. "But he told me most maps now were digital. You know," he said waving his hand as if trying to stir up the term, "on a phone or some kind of device."

"Oh," was all she could think to say leaning over the map so spread. He stood tall above and emerald light washed the northern end like the lights from above. _If you had a phone and I had one, too…_it was too silly and stupid to ponder. There were girls still in school far less foolish than her as Aeris imagined herself pacing round. In front of the window of what was her house with phone crooked in a collarbone cage. Then his voice like a cello with strings sad and low murmuring, "Hello, little flower…"

"Aeris?" She didn't quite gasp pulled from daydream to his inquisitive glance. Focusing her eyes, she sought out the familiar and could only sigh when her eyes fell on Midgar. The mapmaker was blunt and had painted it black, an old bruise upon the world. Kalm was green she supposed for the mythril, but Mideel was even greener.

"The Lifestream still flows there," Sephiroth said noticing where her gaze fell, "though I hardly need to tell you that."

Aeris nodded, brushing her palm on that spot, "Yes, it hasn't receded yet. It's only been a hundred years…" Her smile was just as sad as his eyes. "That's nothing to time's measure. Our lives are so very small."

"And yet they can be so important." He slid his hand against hers. Together they crept from south to north, past the Whispers and across a white sea. Broken by landmasses too large to be islands but too small to be full continents. Sephiroth lingered, eyes still as dead flame, questioning without hope of an answer. Aeris stayed by him, laying her fingers across his much longer ones. He opened his hand and she took the offering, letting them thread soft together. Her protector peered down where the curve of her neck was exposed by the tilt of her shoulder. The warm smell of her like sweet summer at dusk beckoned his lips to that space, but the general was nothing if not stoic and stern when it came to his own desires.

"Here, little one." His forefinger waited beneath a blue town, the northernmost one on the map. He forced his eyes towards the unfamiliar word as they narrowed in sharp scrutiny. "This is the placed once known as Icicle Inn. It's called Winterborough now, I suppose since the town is more than the inn."

"That sounds like my name!" Aeris exclaimed.

Sephiroth raised a brow, caught confused for an instant then realization eased the silver arch down. "What is that, little one?" It was soft to hide shadows of shame everlasting that spanned a century until now.

"Gainsborough," she told him, and darkness shed light to the forgiving squeeze of her hand. "A-And what's yours?"

Sephiroth passed his free hand over the north, slivered pupils seeking the truth. "I suppose it would be Crescent."

"That sounds very nice…" she told him leaning against his arm. "Sephiroth Crescent." She tried the name out. "It makes you seem whole like the person you are. Monsters don't get full names." She grinned up in triumph.

"You'll take that small victory, won't you, Aeris?" He shook his head, but still had to smile.

"I will," she replied with a tilt to her chin and lips wet in invitation. So he took what was offered hoping past doubts that he had not misunderstood. Sephiroth curled fingers on her cheek as silver framed their faces in frost. He only truly shut his eyes to welcome this briefest moment, a time where no nightmare could worm its way in despite Mako gleam being veiled. The flavor of grass and honey and storm coated his tongue as they danced, and he wanted it all, every last taste though it never could be depleted. _I should stop this. I should cease right now. _But he only deepened the kiss. Aeris clung to his neck as his hands clutched her waist, ever careful for tiniest span. He didn't even realize he'd lifted her up, as Aeris hummed to her feet's sweet relief.

"Your same song, little flower?" Murmured so gently when he broke himself to let the kiss end. It lingered on his lips along with her sweetness as a sudden breeze fluttered the map.

The weights held it in place as Sephiroth sighed, turning his head towards his fate. Wind made the sunlight flicker like scales, obscuring what they had just seen, and he wished without whisper that that could be true so it would lead him to his soul's desire.

"Um, Seph?" Her little voice emptied his heart of all except one foolish thing.

"Yes Aeris?" He looked back around to her smile still strange for him being so close.

The flower girl rested her hands on his forearms, laughing as her feet kicked the air.

"Oh, I'm sorry, little flower." He put the maid down, quickly removing his hands. She reached for his fingers before he could hide them, and the general relented to his relief. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Of course you didn't!" she admonished as if the notion were more than silly. Laying her cheek against his chest, renewed sight of the map dampened her joy. His arms enfolded her sure and strong as they both viewed the too soon future. It could not be ignored manifested as real right before their so different green eyes. Aeris twisted a finger around one of his bangs as Sephiroth pulled the flower maid closer.

"It's cold up north. Do you know why?" the Cetra finally said.

"It's because it's near the pole." That was an easy fact. "The Planet is warmer near the center and colder at either end. The furthest south is much the same. That's just simple science."

"You're right." The moonlit hair swam like silk against her palm, smoother than even the waves of that sea with a color to rival the foam. "But the cold descends farther south than it should." Aeris nodded towards the northernmost town. "It would never be warm, but winter would break. It's _always _winter in Winterborough…" She breathed in deeply. "Because of the horror from long ago. Two thousand years and the Planet still needs to heal itself from that terrible wound." Aeris squeezed her eyes shut to the dejection that tore through his battered soul. The slump of his shoulders that had nothing to do with the weight of the armor above.

"It's always winter beneath the northern lights…" he whispered.

"And beneath the lights it's always winter." She lifted her head to his face, but emerald was burning on the very place he had just named. Smoothing the lock that still caressed her hand, Aeris brushed it against her skin. It smelled so clean, but not like shampoo, more like frost with a bare hint of fire. Vanilla scent swam like a halo around. _But he's already rejected that insight. What would he accept? Not glory, not beauty, even forgiveness, which he yearns for like light…because he doesn't accept it, not from himself. That's the saddest thing of all…_

Dusk descended with evening to call, and they walked by the sea after dinner. The sky crisped its fringes to let fire rule so horizon bled out on deep blue. There were others enjoying the nightly display not far from Wesker's Square's steps. The crafts that bobbled slowly were solely for pleasure to the once general's sweeping gaze. The sea seam's illusion was too much to resist for those who had means to draw closer, but even though his sight was perfectly suited to cut through that beautiful mirage, he had Aeris before him, wrapped in his arms and lulled by the heavenly pageant. She kept looking up to cool pulsing green that grew brighter as starlight broke through. The moon had been waiting for this very chance to light hair that enhanced its hue, and the Cetra had no choice but to watch him, for she'd have the ocean every day. In only a few days past that soft eve, she took possession of the house. Kes personally handed her newly made keys as Sephiroth stood by her side.

"Like I said, miss," the lame man said in what was now the flower girl's foyer, "if you need anything just call."

"Thank you," she told him, offered her hand, which he hesitated a bit to take. The general was easier though Sephiroth gripped a bit tighter than really was fair. Shaking squeezed digits, Kes left them alone as night once again played its part. Red fingers drawn across a blue sky that was shushed by the quieting sea. Aeris led Sephiroth to the bay window perch and to his still surprise sat on his lap.

"Will you use the stars to find it?" she asked as they lit her face.

"No, little one." He locked his arms around her. "I'll just sidestep to Winterborough. That's where I'll begin…the northern lights surely fall there."

"Oh." The Cetra leaned against his chest, placing a palm on the solid, smooth surface. Her imagination had had him just walking away, striding sadly across the pale sands. The black of his coat and the light of his hair forever billowing in her eyes. It would have been the last sight she'd have, though she prayed it wouldn't be the last memory. _I'm so stupid…of course he'd sidestep. He's been there long before. Why walk and wait even longer for what he's been waiting his whole life to find. _She envisioned then his beautiful face as he stepped forever from her sight. Her breath choked a sob, and his hand stroked one cheek while his lips pressed to the other.

"It's alright, little flower. Remember I promised I won't leave without saying goodbye, and besides…" He lifted her chin. "You'll be so happy here you won't even remember your terrible life before. " Sephiroth kissed her and wished he could draw out the memories that brought her such grief, but the poor Planet's daughter was cursed with remembrance despite his powers to make minds forget.

When she grew tired enough for sleep to come calling, the general carried her upstairs. He pulled thoughts away from his poor heart's desire even as she sighed in his arms. The long braid and ribbon were right by his hands, begging to be undone. Then the sweet spill would bury his hands as her skin smelled like summer in storm… New sheets, new blankets, new pillows, new drapes made up the bed that was there, but Aeris still roused, clearly chagrinned when Sephiroth set her down.

"I do feel a little bit strange," she admitted, "to be sleeping in somebody else's bed."

_I can think of a wonderful way to make it our own…_the general thought crouching down to her level. He was a master at controlling his face, but that turned his eyes deepest jade.

_Just…ask me. _She laid a hand to his cheek, knowing he never would. He would never feel worthy, and then the maid blushed for how vain must she be for such thoughts?

The flower girl changed into night things while he stood on the balcony, facing the tireless sea. Aeris found him when she finished, meaning to call, but approaching instead. The ocean was dark save for foam caps and stars, while the Whispers behind was soft lit. He took her small hand without need to look, drawing the Cetra before. They watched the sea, which never changed, but never grew tiresome. Its sameness was different in the bloom of a cap where it burst from a night black wave. The moon behind shroud awakened dark blue when it was allowed to escape, and they would've watched longer had not the wind chilled her, so he lifted her into his warmth.

_My dear friend, _Aeris shut her eyes as she drowned in his silver wreathed scent. _Please don't let him go away. I'm such a selfish child…_ She had to stop before she wept.

Sephiroth thought nothing for he forced his mind's silence for fear she was right about him. What if manipulation was just inherent and it was so without his wish? _But it would be my wish, and that's only selfish. She deserves a new life without old horror. She deserves a world without me…_

* * *

_Author's Note: The final chapter of Part I **Forget Me Not **will be posted next week! Thank you all so much for your continued support!_


	14. Forget Me Not

_Author's Note: If you have the ability to do so, I highly recommend you find an listen to **Sarah McLachlan's **_**Full of Grace** _after the break in this chapter (marked by an *). It adds another poignant layer to an already bittersweet part._

**"Somewhere inside of me there will always be the person I am tonight."  
-F. Scott Fitzgerald "Tender Is the Night"**

"**Remember, I'll never leave you  
If you will only  
Remember me…"  
-From _Troy_ sung by Josh Groban "Remember"**

**Chapter 14  
Forget Me Not**

Every day Sephiroth woke in heaven, though he never slept. Aeris lived in his arms from night until dawn, from dreams until waking joy. He wondered as she kissed him with the fervor of prayer what he'd done to deserve this grace.

"I forgive you," she'd tell him often of a morn, knowing the words he so desperately needed. The tormenting demon would cringe from the blow, then sink its claws even deeper.

"I know you do, Aeris." He'd lay lips to her brow before rising to make her breakfast. It was domestic and simple and he enjoyed it far better than entrails and blackened blood.

Some days he'd tie his moon-washed hair into a long queue trailing. Others he'd bind bright braided forelocks back behind his crown. Sometimes he'd twist it in complex four parts, fingers flying down moonlit silk. Aeris would watch hardly able to follow, as he smiled to her reaction. She asked that her own be done in this way, and the general gladly obliged that wish and enhanced it by showing her how.

If the weather were fair, he'd open the windows, and she did so even if not. Shutting her eyes to the wisp of the rain on the sand and the sea and the stones. So long as no thunder troubled the sky the flower maid was at peace. By the window she'd sip her coffee or tea depending on what he had made. In the morning it varied or might just be both, and she found she would want what he'd brewed. The lavender or the rosy tea or coffee with hints of nutmeg.

She always insisted on cleaning up. "It's only fair," Aeris said to his frown. "If you cook then I should clean."

"If you insist, little flower."

"I do, Sephiroth. I'll forget how to cook for myself…" Her gaze followed the long braid flung over his shoulder as a smile lifted her lips. "You're spoiling me, you know. What will I do…when you're gone?" She turned away as he caught her face.

"You took care of yourself for so very long, Aeris, and never once needed me."

"I needed you that night in Midgar, and I needed you to escape."

He traced the shape of her lips with his thumb. "I was…of use to you, little one, and glad that I could be."

"You are so much more to me than just 'use.'" She caught his other hand in her own. "I would never 'use' you, Sephiroth," she told him, eyes shining in morning's light. He lowered his face and kissed her brow before tasting the tea from her lips.

The flower girl put away her old brown dress, though the white one she often wore. The pink dwelled in both of their silences that never touched nor crossed. She bought other dresses of various hues that fulfilled the sea's approval. Whatever she wore awoke summer in her eyes whether playful early or seasoned green. Sephiroth still wore black, but hung up his coat in exchange for button up shirts. Just one was white and tried to match his long hair's pristine hue. It made him envision an endless blood dance where he couldn't avoid the drops. Blooming red vision shut his eyes as his flower whispered his name, but that made it worse for white stained to pink, and his teeth ground against the memory. The long sleeves caught her teasing as she unbuttoned the cuffs and wondered again how he wasn't too warm. Her laughter then stopped like a steel dammed brook. Beneath the fabric the bracers dwelled, and her face fell as she glared up.

"You're always bound."

"I'm meant to be, Aeris. The cold steel will ever remind me-"

"No one should be reminded of that." It was sharp snapped as her voice cracked in pain.

Sephiroth smoothed his cuff and held her close as they stood on the front porch. Sea breeze and light had beckoned her there, and their hair lifted in the swell. Aeris clenched her fists and fought the words that wanted to flow from her lips. Her guardian laid his hand between the blades of her shoulders, and she banished her tears for his sake.

Shoes rarely graced the flower girl's feet now that she was home, and fewer things gave her greater joy than walking the sands unshod. Sometimes with Sephiroth by her side, a shadow to undying light. No monsters came creeping, not in the day, especially since he was near. The greatest "danger" Aeris faced was growing too weary from walking too far, but even were she alone and the strand stretched long, it was almost a promise that he would appear. Though Aeris might say for he loved the sweet words, "Sephiroth, will you carry me home?" The Cetra need never ask.

"Nothing would please me more, little flower." And he'd lift her into his arms. Aeris would cover his cheek in kisses til he turned to catch her lips. Then she would cling with pleading, muted prayers that this not fade away.

When evening descended the general would often seek the monsters that lurked beyond town. Through the mountains and sea strand Sephiroth hunted where the Whispers faded to silence. He would dress in his leather and armor once more and call the Masamune to hand. It was still like an old friend for he could not blame it for the horrors he had wrought. Every monster he killed made Aeris safer as he caught his face in the sheen of the blade. _It has only one use…and that is to kill. Maybe that, too, is my purpose. I'm killing right now…to protect her, but death will always be death. That's all I am, a bloody sword. This is all I'll ever be good for._

Whenever he hunted he went in between to seek the beast that had cast him out_._ Through the grey world he searched, but the black sun showed nothing, and the white sky revealed even less. If Sephiroth remained still, if he were as silent as his marble skin's statuesque pale, then beneath his feet that world echoed murmur of fell things moving below. The infinite scratching assailed his ears, but it was brief like a scream cut short.

Aeris always held to his vow. "I promise I will return." And the kiss that lingered on her lips sealed those words within. Night was when monsters were the most active, though she never saw or sensed any near. She'd visit her neighbors that lived within the separated tenement above. It had been turned into three, and the children there had their families all intact. Their parents were curious about the maid, but never recalled her guardian. She sipped their tea (and sometimes wine) and wondered if he had made them forget.

But there was one thing that lay unforgotten at night as she dwelled in his arms. When their breath and their hearts matched the sigh of the sea and kisses seared her skin without burn. When he read to her and the words, _"Let us go…" _made her cling tight to his neck. When each wave marked time, and she wanted the ocean to stop and give it back. When the dawn was her rival when once she had pleaded to see just a hint of that light.

When she saw him…by the window in a rose drenched eve, and he had stood there for hours. His great leather coat swept the back of his knees and his pauldrons mocked dying day. His boots drank the darkness that would soon swallow all with only starlight and moon for reprieve. Silver hair lifted but slight to the breeze as to only acknowledge its brush. The window was his heartless master trapping that emerald gaze, as he paced back and forth tethered to the pull that would not let him escape. She could bask in light and sea song from her perch, but he trudged in sorrow that tore his heart's threads.

Sometimes his name from innocent lips would pull Sephiroth away. His pupils so slim would ever so soften to the sight of his little rose. _But not this night, _Aeris thought as she emerged from the den reading room. _This night he is dressed as if he must hunt. He never struggles like this in those clothes. He just…goes to kill though there is no joy, but right now he is killing himself._

Swallowing, the flower girl breathed deep and drew strength from the Planet below. _Child…_it called, but she gave no answer and the world murmured but did not now sing. His boots were silent where her bare feet would creek, each step shooting pain through her chest. Back and forth, his eyes ever north and each motion in agony's grace. It was like watching a dancer upon shattered glass, raw and bleeding and torn, but the beauty of each step could no more be denied than the blood that seeped slow from cut feet. _His heart is in tatters and I can do nothing…nothing but let him go._

"Sephiroth?"

The wince that lifted those taut, solid shoulders could barely be registered. Tearing his gaze and heart more in the process, the once general faced the maid. His gloved hand grazed the window, the fingers due north as Aeris slowly approached. He awaited her nearness, needing it now before he could dare to speak. This tiny flower whose forgiveness trumped reason, whose trust defied all odds. She was clutching her book, her ever companion close to her soft chest. His lids lowered to hide it, what couldn't be thought, but what came to his mind without prompting. _I want her beneath me…crying my name with the sea and the stars for witness. _It couldn't be spoken. It couldn't be asked. _You're a monster. You're filth. You're lower than worms, and she is not for you._

"It's time…isn't it?" Aeris blinked up, squeezing her book ever tighter.

Her voice had grown small for how close she was, and it took all that he had to say, "…yes."

The Cetra's lips parted. Though the brief noise was caught, he still heard the echo. Slowly, she placed the book on the cushions, but the quake of her hand betrayed her. "I...I knew this day would come…I just…" Sephiroth fell to his knees so swift she was startled, taking her hands into his. The great general was gone. Replaced by him…but that only made him greater.

"Why are you crying, little flower?" She looked at him sharply for it was unrealized as dusk lit the dew. "This should be a happy time for you. You'll be rid of me. You'll be quit of your killer. Your life can begin anew."

She pressed her cheek against his knuckles as he knelt there in silence. "Do you think I suffer, Sephiroth, when I look at you? Do you think you cause me pain?"

"I think you're kind, my little flower, and give even your murderer grace." He lowered his head in the splendor of silver so she could see the part in between. "My heart bleeds from within when I look at you…how can yours not do the same?"

"You really don't remember," she whispered searching his face rife with light.

The gleam grew pale in his confusion. "I remember far too much, Aeris, to ever truly forget."

"You protected me before. In Midgar…in the labs…in that horror from so long ago." She squeezed his hands so hard that hers hurt, and his lips parted, but all words were lost. "When you told me how you were beaten, but you didn't remember why. _I _was the reason. It was because you tried to stop them from hurting _me_."

Sephiroth drew back from her, face stricken and paled by the Mako burning bright. Then rising quickly he returned to the window looking now back through the past. The memories were jagged and scuttled like rats through the dark recesses of his mind for some words carry fire to burn even a tongue that could bear the fiercest flame.

"We were…we were just children. Your mother….she was still alive…" It was like it trickled from some unknown source, the knowledge that had been so lost.

"They tried to hurt me." She reached for his hands as he jerked his head down in shock. "They often succeeded." Aeris couldn't help the shiver just as he couldn't help pulling her close. "But sometimes you stood in their way. You gave me reprieve and then I could hide from the needles and testing and pain. I had track marks all over my arms, but the Planet…it took them away."

"The corruption healed mine." He touched her soft cheek. "Those memories died when you did, Aeris. I wish I still had that. I wish I remembered I was your protector even if it did no good."

"It did everything…" she told him. "I escaped, Sephiroth…because of you, but you never did, not even now after a hundred years. That prison…it still cages your heart. You have to let it go."

He turned away and shut his eyes, but the light limned his thin, pale lids. "My heart's made for war and death, little flower."

"All hearts were made for love." Beyond the sea, beyond the wind it rang clear through to the Planet. "Despite what else might be in them. Love is the default."

"Hate has eaten my heart, little one."

She laid her ear to his chest. "Then what do I hear beneath the pale?"

"The remnants of once greatness."

"That's not true, Sephiroth."

The general shook his head in vehemence. "A monster shouldn't love a rose. It…shouldn't be allowed." His damning words were desperate to deny as he closed her in his arms so Aeris swam in silken scent that tumbled from his hair.

"You said once you didn't need light to see, but that's not true either. You just…carry your own, and yet you can't see what's right before."

"I had this light when I was the darkness."

"You know it's not the same." She wet her lips where salt dry stripped, and he ignored the kiss that called. "It all comes full circle, Sephiroth, and you're my protector again."

"Oh Aeris." The beckon spoke his name and he turned to the mauve seam of eve. "You don't need me now. You don't need me here. You're safe in this place, little flower."

"Just because I'm safe it doesn't mean I don't need you." Her hands squeezed to fist against his coat straps as she tried not to think of tomorrow.

"What could you possibly need me for?" he asked, and she sobbed into his chest. It was too much to stand, his utter self-loathing, as Sephiroth tilted his head confused. "You're safe in the Whispers, little flower, in your pretty seaside house. No one here will ever hurt you. You never need to be afraid again."

"I'm safe because I'm with you…held tight in your arms." She pulled herself closer laying her head to skin that made winter warm. The heart so called beat hard in her ear, its brokenness echoing through her bones.

"I'm the only murderer here, Aeris," he told her, "and when I'm gone, there will be no more."

"You said you would leave me some place safe. The safest I've been has been with you."

"That was true once." He cupped her cheek. "But it isn't anymore."

"It'll always be true, Sephiroth." The wind chilled her skin so gooseflesh grew taut, and the breeze caressed moonlight hair. "What will you do…?" He covered her shiver with his leather clad arms. "When you've found her…and she's forgiven you?"

"You have that hope, Aeris?" For he carried none. "You have that hope she will? I have to find her…find where she lays so I can pay my respects. I owe her my accursed life. For that she deserves an apology…" His low voice died flat, but the north loosed the tether so he could give her emerald then. It was like diving into a well of light, but at the bottom was only despair.

"She does forgive you," Aeris said softly. "I know it's true. You…don't have to go." She bit her lip, and Sephiroth bowed his head. "Beneath the lights it's cold and bare, but here, there's-"

"You and summer?" He slid his arms fully around her as the night awoke infinite stars. The general sighed, his gaze pulled again, tied between fate and desire. "I don't deserve the paradise of holding you in my arms. My due is what waits in the north."

Aeris laid her cheek against his chest, squeezing her eyes til the darkness burst. "I'm so selfish…and I'm so sorry. I know what you have to do. I didn't forget you promised, and you can't break a vow to the dead." She lifted her face and he cupped her chin, hating his flower in grief. The words were written in his eyes. _Don't apologize to me, _and if turmoil didn't hold her, Aeris would've smiled to his thoughts laid so plain.

"What else do they have but that, little flower? What else can the living give?"

"The dead canwait forever, but she's waited long enough. You have to resolve your past before you find your future, but…" She slid slim fingers across his skin. "What will that future be?"

"I have to hunt the darkness that lurks in between. The one that ripped me from your side." His face froze in glower as Mako brushed his cheeks, shadowed only by his lashes. "I'll disappear there. My last obligation to rid the world of the echo in my blood."

Aeris turned into the black leather so warmed by his white skin. The sob tried to ravage her throat again, but the flower girl forced it back down. "You don't have to live in the shadow of that pain. This world has space enough for you."

"No, little one, I haunt this world's memory. It need not suffer my presence."

"You're haunted, Sephiroth…" She traced the pale against the straps. "Like the ghosts you skin so shames. This world 'suffers' you as much as I." _You can smell my skin and hear my heart, but you can't tell what it contains? _"Come back to me…" It was less than a whisper near lost in the sea. "When you find what you seek. Don't disappear into darkness alone."

He buried his fingers beneath her braid where the ribbon trailed down on his hand. Tilting his head, he saw himself in her eyes, but only his horror appeared in cut light.

"You want me to come back…to live here…in this beautiful place…with you?" It was absurd and he was incredulous, but she couldn't be insincere.

"I want that more than anything, Sephiroth. More than freedom or rain or light."

"Oh, little rose." He slid his palm across her neck, and her spine arced as she gasped. Jade tried to smolder, but he forced it to quell as it fed that strange fire within. "How can that be? I'm the monster that took your life. I'm the horror that slinks through the world's blackest dreams, the foulness that taints its blood. I'm imminent darkness, black winged death…"

"You're not that anymore!"

"Some things can never change, Aeris."

"You're right," she conceded giving him that. "The past is what it is, but the future can always be better."

"It will be better I promise. You deserve so much better than me." He bowed his head as his fingers found the place upon her back. "And memory can be the worst of wounds…I'm so sorry, little flower. I didn't mean for this to be…"

"You didn't mean for what?"

"For me…" he whispered and emerald bled shame, "to fall in love with you…"

He sealed his lids as her soft voice wove whispers over his heart. Aeris slipped her arms around his neck to shock that released Mako green. Where was her horror? Where was revulsion? Neither pressed against his lips. Neither dwelled in her throat when his tongue danced with hers. There was none in the curve of her spine. She stood on her toes in moonlit silk, and what she murmured called elation and pain. This flower had stepped between the cracks in his heart and found what he was inside. She was not frightened. She was not disgusted. It only drew her in. Wrapped in his arms and swathed in his hair, she knew silver was better than gold. From the haze above the moon emerged and the general watched beauty blossom in cold. By bearing this witness, Mako gleam also held her before Sephiroth shifted his gaze.

"This is the light you should be bathed in." He passed a hand along her braid where the moon coiled within. "Not this horror from my eyes." He cupped her cheek, curling his fingers on the softness of her skin. "Someday soon," he forced himself say, "one will come who'll be worthy of your love. Forget me."

Her tears renewed in the depths of the sob. "How could you ever ask that? How could I ever forget?"

"Forget me, Aeris." He clutched her arms desperately, but kept so careful with his strength. "I'm less than nothing. I'm your murderer…" His eyes turned neon as downtown lights flooding the room like the tide. _Let her forget me. Let her forget…let her be happy here. _He didn't know whom he asked for prayer is futile coming from one so accursed.

"No…" She shook her head, voice cracked by tears. "And that won't work on me."

His shoulders slumped beneath the armor. "My little flower," he begged, "please forget me. I don't deserve to be a memory…" She stood on her toes, kissing the spot right over his ailing heart, and Sephiroth knew then that he had failed. He searched her face and tried to make sense of what couldn't be shining there. "You've been so lonely for so very long you've become infatuated with your murderer."

"I'm not infatuated with my murderer," she told him. "I'm in love with my protector."

"No." He shook his head harder, spinning silver against her face. "You deserve so much better than your murderer's filthy touch." His hands suddenly stiffened, but Aeris clung to them, leading his palms down her sides. Without his bidding they locked around the small waist as the general stared in utter shock.

"Your touch isn't filthy, Sephiroth." She glared up, wavering between anger and pain. "It's…more than divine, and you are _not _my murderer. You're not a monster. How many times must I tell you that?"

"A thousand. A million. I just can't believe…why are you kind to me, Aeris? How can you forgive me? _Why_ do you love me?" He couldn't say any more. His lips were parted, but no words would come. He had nothing within him to comprehend what was written on her face, but he had to cup it with one palm, his unblinking light ringing soft. "What did I do to deserve _this_?"

"You really can't see it," she whispered. "You really don't know. You're blinded by your guilt." She didn't know how else to show him his touch had become the most wonderful thing in the world. Even the Planet so ancient below had no answer to give. It could only spill what increased through its dear daughter's soul as it bled through to whom she adored.

Sephiroth pulled her tight to his embrace, half-lidded eyes no match for the light. She was so stubborn and innocent, so petulant and brave. _She'd follow me north if I allowed. _He hid the horror of that with a tentative mask and bent to kiss her brow. "You'll remember me no matter what I do, and suffer in its embrace. Have you forgotten what I did to you, Aeris? Have you hidden the memory that lives in your bones?"

"I'll never suffer for your memory, Sephiroth." But she buried her face in the folds of his coat as he gently rubbed her back.

_Being allowed to touch her…being allowed to hold her. It will become a faded dream. I don't want it to go away. I don't want to lose this…the memory. Memories are all I have, and she is the only one I will cherish. _But his other obligation, it called so loud and would torture him until he answered.

She wanted the kiss and he could no longer deny her though it was flavored with summer tears. He held her close as if he could somehow bind her shape to his skin. Her soft limbs would linger around his neck, the brush of her braid beneath his fingers. The blush of her lips would color his own and her moan would be trapped in his throat.

Hiding her face in a fold of his coat, Aeris breathed deep of his wonderful scent. She wanted it to live within her nostrils so every breath would smell like him. Around her his arms tightened, and the Cetra clenched her teeth. Time would not freeze no matter how hard she prayed. The soft waves proved this cruelty, but she tightened her fists on the leather and resolved to hold on for as long as she could. Aeris couldn't imagine him ripping her away. That would pain him as much as her, but he would call her attention with that low, tortured voice, and his great eyes would bleed their plea.

"Stay with me…for one more night." She spilled her own before he could, and Aeris felt the sigh lift his chest.

"I can't do that, little flower."

"Why not?"

_Because it's all I want in this world. Mother, have mercy…it's all I want. _"If I do," he told her lifting her face, "I won't be able to leave you in the morning." A night breeze tumbled his hair against leather and metal, but gently spilled it against her skin. "I won't be able to bear a day that's not wholly full of you." Her lips were so pink from their embrace, it took the general's full will not to re-taste them. "If I leave now, I can always remember I was with you in the light…but night is for monsters and makes me realize I deserve to be without you."

"I'll come looking for you!" Aeris exclaimed, her voice tinted with wild.

"No, little one." It was hushed horrified. "You mustn't ever do that."

"Why mustn't I?"

Sephiroth's heart surged to her note of stubbornness but greater fear for her tamped it down. "Because where I'm going neither roses nor lilies can bloom." He covered one half of her face with his palm so Aeris answered it with her own. His hands were so much larger. His skin was so much thicker, but no calluses scratched tender flesh. "You're like the moth that dreams of the fire, the flower that pleads for the frost, but I'm not the light you should be seeking for petals will wither in ice." He fought gravity to lift his lips, but this did nothing to shake his grief. "Dearest child-"

"I'm _not _a child," she interjected sick of sorrow, full of despair and wondering how he bore it for so long.

"You're the Planet's child," he told her with the calm she could no more hold.

"So are you," Aeris insisted.

"I'm the Planet's curse."

She shook her head and squeezed his hand, angry now that nothing she said could ever assuage his guilt. "You're just calling me 'child' so you can forget, so you can leave without a qualm."

"You know that's not true." He hid his pain at the accusation, but Aeris had learned to look for such now, and she kissed his palm to take it back. "How could I forget you?" Sephiroth slid his blessed hand beneath her chin. "You've forgiven me. My soul is blacker than star gone skies, but your memory will be my light." He loved her in a profoundly sad and broken way, but that made it no less true.

As if blown by the wind, he stepped once away, and Aeris half-stumbled with partial cry. The once general clenched his fists so hard that had he long nails they would've cut through his flesh. Everything in him told him to go back, to wrap this innocent in his arms, to sweep her up and never stop kissing her, to satisfy both their desires…but if he touched her again, he'd hold her forever, and obligation would flay his soul.

"You know when you're gone night will come to my heart. It will never be bright again."

"No, little one. Don't ever say that," he pled as pale tears washed her face. "You have so much light to give, and only a little can break the foulest darkness."

"Please," she whispered and the Planet beneath wailed like an echoing banshee loud. She wanted to clap her hands to her ears, but his voice stilled the shattering cry.

"No, Aeris, please don't do that. Don't ever beg for me."

"I-I want to give you something." Sephiroth slightly cocked his head with one brow lifted high. Aeris fought tremble just looking at him, but it now held nothing of fear. He was the great general, yet he was still him. Purpose made all of the difference. She lifted one hand and caught the pink ribbon, and two fingers was all that it took. Her soft hair came spilling around her small frame and a booted foot took a step closer. Mako seared the half of his lids that were lowered and drowned her in jaded flame. He wanted it running over his hands, tangling between his fingers. In imagination chestnut swirled with silver against her fragrant flesh. Aeris looked down at the scrap in her hand then tilted her face back and up. He was right there before her, and she could melt in his arms, but they both wanted that too much.

"When…when I died," she began to his quick frozen face, "my friends tied ribbons around their arms. They did so in remembrance of me…as if they could forget." The thought brought poignant song through her breast, the Planet harmonizing sweet lament. She bit her lip to his utter blank face, seeing through cracks what roiled behind. "W-Will you allow me?"

Sephiroth sank slowly to his knees as if pulled down by the earth and bowed his brow to hers. "You honor me, Aeris," he whispered in sliding his left arm from his coat. "Beyond what a general's glory could hold."

And though her vision was faded from lingering tears, she still managed to tie it around. There was no depression beneath pale skin for where the knot was laid. Like sculpted marble completely solid to her slim fingers tracing down. Sephiroth peered at the pink scrap of past before slipping his coat back into place. Wrapping his other arm around her waist, he called a squeak with his lips hot to hers. He stood without effort, bringing her up to his height and tasted her tongue like the water of life. Through his lids he saw the pulsing blood, but his mind's eye held sweeter memory.

A blast of cold shattered them both from this moment, the breeze instantly gentle again. Each slipped from each other, and Aeris cupped his face as he held her up with his right arm. A deep heavy sigh bowed the general's head when he put the flower girl down. The second step away was harder than the first as he trailed her side in soft brush. She held her dress in now sore fists from squeezing her hands too tight. He seemed to be fading in night's new grown shadows, and there was nothing to stop what was next.

"I can't watch you go, but I won't look away. Please don't leave while I can see."

"I won't, little flower. I promise you that."

But then she blinked and he slipped without sound between the seams of this world. If sound could call anguish, the Whispers would fall to the brief cry from the depths of her throat. Stumbling to that space and the air that had filled with vanilla and frost without cold. She stopped her lips from shaping his name, pressing her palm to the kiss that still warmed. Aeris kept blinking and fervently prayed that each one would bring him back, but in her beautiful house by the whispering sea, he was forever gone. The sight that she'd dreaded had grown so dear, and she would never see it again. The flower girl fell back and the cushions caught her as the stars pricked their tears on the window.

_Please, _she prayed, _please, please, please, _but the Planet grieved along with its daughter. Chastising and keening and wondering why she'd let her protector go. _I had no choice. I couldn't keep him from the need of his very soul. Dearest friend, how can you be so cruel to what must be your saddest child? _She held to the stars that shimmered in tears knowing this at least they could share. _They sky is the sky and he gave that to me. When I look up, I'll pray he can see it._

That night in her bed so empty and large, she clung to one of his shirts. It smelled just like him, though she hated the tears that would sully the memory's scent. Sleep came to take her by sealing her eyes against the onslaught of empty grief, and her final thought was she'd give up her life to hear "little flower" so low just once more.

It was cold, but that never touched his heat. It was white but his skin burned paler. The Icicle Inn shadowed in snow that could not hide the northern lights. Behind the clear sky, green called to green, and the glow laid a path through the heavens. But right now Sephiroth did not care as he looked at the room so stark. It was fine enough for what was missing could not be found in a thousand steps. The tears in his heart had been sutured with her, so he had to hold her there. Everything else could bleed through the rents, but love, it would remain.

His awareness was drawn to the taut on his arm, the ribbon that circled his muscle, and that reminded the general of something else, another gift he had been given. Reaching into an inner pocket, Sephiroth drew the dead lily forth. Mako light bathed it as his sight traced the petals so withered and torn, but then his eyes opened wide to the white for the flower forget its long death. Before him it opened, the petals grew whole, and cloying scent made his lips part. _I'm the bearer of death. She's the bringer of life. This is my flower's doing…this lily to bloom in my curséd hand._ He held to it even on the bed, letting his gleam wash the blossom. Not even his unholy light stemmed its blooming, so saddest smile lifted his lips.

He never meant to sleep for sleep called the darkness that dwelled behind his eyes. There would be nightmares. There would be vengeance from all of those he had wronged. His true destiny was always darkness, not this innocent and her light. But there was the chance…the very slim chance that he would dream about her. With Aeris, he'd been as close to happy as he could ever be, and he loved her with every piece of his shattered, broken heart. It was worth it for horror, for torture, for pain to take that very slim hope. Though Sephiroth would never be allowed to forget the scrape of cold steel against living bone, and when he shut his eyes, that day's tears spilled across his face.

**End Part I  
The General and the Roses  
**

* * *

_Author's After Note: I'm sure many of you really hate me right now. I accept that as my due. Remember what his two tasks were: see Aeris safe and find his true mother's grave. Also remember there's an entire second part with eleven chapters, so do not give in to despair...at least not yet. Part II begins next week with **Chapter 15 Moonlight and Ashes. **_ _I thank you all, old readers and new ones for your favorites, follows, comments/revies, and support!__  
_


	15. Moonlight and Ashes

**"You fashioned love into a blade,  
And with it pierced my heart..."**

**Part II**

**The False Mother and the True**

**"I am not afraid to die before my time so long as I'm not dead inside…"  
-November Project "Are You Sleeping?"**

**Chapter 15**

**Moonlight and Ashes**

_Dearest friend, I know you're there. _

It was beautiful morning again. The waves woke her up as they always did making gentle love to the shore. Aeris's face burned with blush for she'd been having a similar dream. Though the beginnings might differ, they all ended the same with his emerald igniting her sight. Moisture trickled down her temples doing nothing to cool the heat there, but the gulls were now calling, and there was no one to see the flower maid's chagrin.

_Dearest friend, what do you want? I'm alive and well in paradise. _

Granted she had to make her own breakfast, but Aeris never minded such work. She did mind the fact it was only for her, but she'd grown used to that, as well. _This house is too big, don't you think, dearest friend, _though it wasn't too hard to keep clean. She had only herself and nothing but time, but she often just found herself wandering. From room to room as the sound of the sea followed, sighing to find them still empty.

Breakfast with coffee was taken by the window where the breeze sought to tease her long hair. She liked the hush of it through chestnut waves…it reminded her of gentle fingers. Swirling ends of the dark brew in her mug, Aeris frowned before drinking it down. The beach called her now, but first she'd clean up. Routine made the loneliness bearable. She could visit her neighbors if she wanted some chaos to her simple day to day. They both had children, but liked to drink wine when the little ones were abed. The flower girl recalled walking home a bit buzzed, the path stumbling down a few steps. Never in Midgar had she dared to imbibe, but even in the dead of night, she could've woven through the Whispers. Her guardian had told her that it was safe, and Aeris held to his words like pure gold.

She never wore shoes when she walked on the beach for she loved shore and surf on her toes. In fact there were days when her feet were sole shod in a skein of shimmering sand. Her floor suffered for it, but that's why there were brooms to clean up a careless maid's mess. There would sometimes be young ones fishing the shallows on weekends or holidays. They were always polite in that small town way, and Aeris would smile as she strolled by.

When the morning grew late, regardless of the cover, the Cetra took refuge inside. She'd made the mistake once of thinking her sunscreen would be enough to avoid a burn. Her skin soft and pale crisped up like a leaf and it hurt just to blink or breathe. She could just imagine low, chastising voice, as his very touch drew heat away. _It'd be worth it, dear friend, this pain I'm in now to summon him back to my side… _Pursed lips stilled that thought for she had resolved to live here and to be truly happy. The first was accomplished the second…well joy is a relative term at the most.

Really shoes had become an extraneous thing she only used when walking in town. Her boots had finally fallen apart so she sought out a store to replace. The saleswoman had taken one look at them and nearly fainted in fright. Dregs of the slums surely clung to her soles, tracked through this second tier place. Aeris bit her lip, but made herself remember the Whispers were not like Midgar. _Though the thought is the same without the action. I suppose people will never change…_ That slumped the maid's shoulders as she sat on the bench as though awaiting execution. The maid was half-bullied and bought several pairs, and it wasn't until she was nearly home, Aeris recalled that none were new boots. Upon arrival Aeris doubly found that her old ones were not in the bags, and she somehow suspected the woman had snatched them to be unceremoniously burned.

After her beach walk, sometimes she'd venture to the Chatham for lunch. Sitting in their seat by the window side, lavender tea on her tongue to recall. If their server were there, she'd come over regardless if she had Aeris's table or not. Refilling her tea with bland pleasantries, but never asking of him. In such a small town with just enough time, one gets to know everyone. There were her neighbors: Myrna and Nell, the former who _loved _red wine. The other, tart Nelly, with her five children and a husband who made her scoff. There was also the fisherman they'd met that first day. Hal, that's what his name was again, and once a week, there was a farmer's market where everything lately looked fresh. Aeris soft grinned, but said not one word. She was content to be known as the pretty young maid who'd arrived under strange circumstances…and of course it took no time at all for her flowers to find her here.

It had really started with a trip to the bank, and that was _another _story. The house was full paid for and she had no real bills, save the phone, which felt more than half foolish. _I don't even have his number, _she thought. _He doesn't even have a phone! _But still she had one and would pick it up sometimes for the monotone note in her ear. Imagination made play to her punching true melody, then a ring and low voice on the end…

When she walked out her door before her front porch they were growing in droves from the sand. White lilies and roses. What she'd had, what he'd called her…the color of moonlight and ash. Her heart overpowered the sigh of the sea and even the raucous gulls. _Dearest friend…what is all of this? Are these my flowers from the slums? _Aeris let her gaze sweep across wind swaying blossoms. _I suppose I'll need a basket. _Then the Cetra smiled so sad, but brightened as she walked through the town. She'd have a way to make money, but that thought soon faltered as she saw the abundance of blooms. Of differing types and manifold colors, but the Whispers were washed in fair flowers. There were even window boxes as if they were expected, as if people had known they would come, and at the cemetery the graves wore crowns the dead could only envy.

With a sigh Aeris stepped into the bank, that thought dashed though she still had to smile. _I would rather have flowers blooming for all then sell them to rue below. It may not be practical, but I'm sure I'll find something…something that I can do. _She was juggling these thoughts when she heard her balance and a very rude, "What?" escaped.

"Um, well…" The nervous teller leaned forward, adjusting his glasses as he squinted at the screen. He laid a finger below the long figure, tracing across as he read.

"How is that possible?" Aeris demanded, her face turning the color of frost.

"Well, it seems there was a large deposit." The man hid behind his screen. "A…_very _large one," he amended.

"Can you tell me when?" She'd no need to ask _whom. _They wouldn't remember and the culprit was clear. Even the answer was not unexpected...it was the day he'd disappeared.

"_So long as you're with me Aeris, you'll never want nor need…"_

_Am I still with you then? Are you still with me? _Her stomach dropped to her toes. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered half expecting low voice to say, "Never apologize." But the teller only nodded relieved and asked if she wanted to make a withdrawal.

"No, I'm fine. I was just checking the balance to make sure I had enough…" Her voice trailed away for "enough" wasn't the word. She'd never need worry again. Aeris could buy her own shop if she pleased and give flowers away to her joy. Salt burned her eyes so she turned away swift, thanking the man before taking her leave.

_Dearest friend, the nights are worse. The nights are made for memory…_the shadows grew tall and could've held him as she wished he was holding her now. If that pain grew too great, the ocean would call and Aeris would answer the murmuring sea. Speckled with stars and the all changing moon, the waves taunted her with their caps, but careless sea foam failed to match the silver in her mind. She could never forget, but there was something she had to augment her memory. That terrible day when they had sidestepped and she feared he had wanted her life. It had fluttered down from the heavens, a feather blacker than mourning's threads. Longer than her hand, it mocked starless skies and would've made night as white. The fronds were so soft and smelled just like him, vanilla attended by frost.

Sitting in her brown dress on the edge of the tide, Aeris let it lap over her feet. Her house rose behind, the ocean before, while she dwelled in between. With arms wrapped around her high pulled knees, the Cetra wished the wet were just spray. She looked up at the stars and smiled then, wondering if the northern lights lit his path.

"_One day will come another who'll be worthy of your love."_

_That's the only lie you told me, Sephiroth, because "one" already did…_ The night breeze was colder and she had no coat, but the flower girl wanted the chill. If she shut her eyes, the spray was ice and the sand was snow beneath. _It's where he is and maybe he's found her. Maybe he's found her at last. _She shivered for if so his last task would start, the darkest of them all. Suddenly frightened and remembering monsters, Aeris hurried back to her house. Once inside, she judged herself foolish, but it took warm tea to steady her hands.

Every morning she expected to wake back in the slums. She hadn't been rescued by her murderer. She hadn't been saved from the dark. She'd never been picked up in the strongest of arms and borne so swiftly away. She most certainly hadn't seen grief in endless emerald eyes…and surely love could not be true, his broken heart that had made it so pure. Her innocent one that bound the seams of what was torn together. It was absurd. It was impossible…it was nothing but the truth. She could always hear it if she stilled, that powerful beat so sad, and Aeris thought of him every day despite her heartache to the memory. There was always that hope that one day she would turn, and there he'd be before. Sorrow and beauty wrapped into one, as silver lined around leather black.

_Dearest friend, _she tried once more, but she knew there would only be silence. Its presence was always in the Cetra's mind, its hum of life in her very soul. Every flower that bloomed, every grain of sand proclaimed the infinite dance, but since that night, there had been no word, no music in her blood. _My petulant friend. _She shook her head, sadder now and ever lonely. Within her tea, she saw her face with ribbon-less hair swirled around. She had plenty of others, many colors now to bind her tresses to match her clothes, but she liked it free if she sat in the breeze, windy fingers in her hair. She sipped, disturbing the image below, though she remembered the one in his eyes. Those slivered mirrors, clear as glass with their omnipresent light. Within them lived memory bitter as dregs and sweeter than summer tears.

* * *

_Author's Note: Due to this chapter being so short and also due to it being an American holiday, **Chapter 16** will also be posted this week! If you're reading this right as it was posted, and you're wondering where the next chapter is, it should show up within the hour. I, too, shall keep my promises ;)_


	16. Puppy Love

"**And I never spoke love but I knew that I lied."  
-Peter S. Beagle "The Last Unicorn"**

**Chapter 16  
Puppy Love**

The boy had become enamored of her and that made Aeris sad. She sighed a lot when she was with him, and just that thought made her sadder. She'd met him while sitting in Wesker's Square reading her beloved book. Their poem flowed lovely through her mind in the low voice she longed to hear. Sometimes she'd mouth, sometimes she'd murmur to create an inner harmony. When then she heard, "Excuse me, miss," and he was standing there holding a flower. The startle was instant. It had been long ingrained. Then she remembered where she was not.

"I-I'm sorry, miss. I mean you no harm. I…just thought you might like a flower. I've seen you sitting here all alone…for the past few weeks that is. I thought 'Maybe she's lonely and just wants a friend,' and all misses…they seem to like flowers. Not a lot of them grew here, but I've noticed them more since you started coming around."

Aeris smiled politely and nodded her head to acknowledge that she had heard. He was taller than her and thin as a stem with freckles flung over his face. His eyes were brown beneath unruly brows, and his hair was the hue of dark sand. He wasn't unhandsome, but he was common, and glory had stolen her gaze. Without invitation he sat down beside, and Aeris heaved her first sigh to slide over. He was very young, younger than her…before she'd given her life.

"So I-I brought you this." He held out his hand.

"You…brought me a flower." She tried not to make it too dry.

"Well…yes." The boy blushed and the maid gave in to at least give the blossom a look.

"That's a white aster. They're really quite common, and you can find them in purple and red."

"Oh," he said looking over the bloom then back at her in admiration. "I didn't know that. I just thought it was pretty."

"They are," Aeris said. "You picked it too early. You have to catch them right before they die. That's when they're the most beautiful. That's when they have to be plucked."

The boy opened his mouth but no words issued forth, just tiny, bemused, "Ohs." Aeris grimaced in guilt as she went back to her book. _Well that should at least scare him away._

"W-Well I'm Edwin…Edwin Wesker."

She glanced over with her hand to her cheek. Pointing up and around she asked, "Like the square?" and the boy emphatically nodded.

"Yes, that's right miss! My father's the mayor. Edsel Wesker. That's his name. He founded the town, well my grandfather did." Edwin blushed. "He's name's Edsel, too."

She forced a smile then went back to read the same words over again.

"A-And what's your name?"

A grander sigh lifted her head, and she answered, "Aeris," and tried to go back.

"Miss Aeris," he started and she gave him a glare.

"Just Aeris. I'm not a 'miss.' The last one with a title would've been my mother, and she's been a dead a long time." _Oh gods, when did I become so abrupt._

He gaped with a blush, set back by her tone, a general's directness.

"D-Did your friends call you that?"

"My friends are dead, too." _Except for the one I lost. _"But yes, they called me Aeris." _Or they called me 'little flower,' or they called me 'little rose.' But that's not really right. It's not right at all. He was much more than a friend…_

"I'm so sorry, miss." He lowered his hand as though the daisy contained weighted words. "I-I didn't know."

"How could you?" She tempered her impatience. He was just a boy after all. _Long ago you would've been charmed. I suppose death changes all. _She turned back to her book and continued to read in her now sadly won silence.

"You're not from around here are you? I can tell by your voice."

The Cetra blinked as poetry faded, and a sweet smile was forced on her face.

"No, I'm not. Do I have an accent? Is that how you were able to tell?"

"Well…" He blushed again and Aeris then wondered how Sephiroth did not find her own so trite. "It's slight but yes, though that's not how. I think I saw you the first day you came. You had a…light about you, an almost silvery sheen like you were covered in starlight or snow." He shook his head and peered up in shock, as if surprised by his own eloquence.

_Residual poetry, _Aeris thought as the image of him came before. She blinked twice and tried to spread escaping tears across the green. Edwin didn't notice still offering the flower.

"I-It's nice though," he assured her, and, composed, Aeris peered askance. "Your voice that is…a-and you're very pretty, too."

The flower girl realized the futility of attempting to peacefully read. She'd have to go back to her house and miss the rest of the new evening sun. Though no longer hounded by wariness, Aeris couldn't do that now. _He might follow. Though I feel no threat, it's not really wise to tempt fate. _She retrieved the black feather from inside her dress where it was carried near her heart. Edwin's eyes widened in his skull for it was clearly no simple frond. Marking her place, she shut the old tome and gave the boy a searching look. He was as different from him as a wave to a wine glass, and she watched the bloom shake in his hand. _Dear gods, the boy likes me. How long was he watching? _A sudden wash of fear paled her cheeks. The thought dissolved in self-annoyance. _This _was not a threat.

"What do you want Edwin?" That directness again. He jolted back and she regretted her tone.

"I-I was just wondering if you wanted to eat. I mean I know of course you do. You _have _to eat so you can live, but if you wanted to go out someplace. The Chatham is nice and there are bistros down here and restaurants on the second. There's lots of options if you want…if you wanted to go out with me…"

The boy must've rallied his courage in spades to prepare for this stammering act. He shook in his skin as if drenched by the sea and then tumbled in bitter winds. Especially if he remembered her from her first day. _And my guardian was unnoticed. If the boy had seen _him_, he wouldn't have the tongue to speak to me here and now. _She banished a grin before sighing again, feeling the latter would become quite common. Then swiftly plucked the bud from his hand and stuck it in her high braid. Their fingers had grazed, but it just felt like skin with no fire limned frost beneath. Aeris made a gesture to a nearby place as the boats sounded their return to the pier. _Never the Chatham. _Her resolve was a stone. _I have other memories there…_

Dinner was nice. The boy talked up a storm to everyone who wandered by. As the mayor's son, he was well known though she noticed hidden ennui. Folks were indulgent and almost too friendly, as they gave her sidelong looks. Aeris hid a giggle behind her hand like a yawn, and Edwin glanced with a smile wide bright. He truly believed she was tittering coy, and the little Cetra, sorry she had laughed, could only sigh to dissuade.

"Do you know why it's called the Whispers?" He gestured to the hushing waves while the square burned rose in dusk.

"Because the sea whispers to the shore?" Aeris crossed her legs on the high stool, tracing the spine of her book.

Edwin gaped with fast blinking eyes. "Y-Yes, you're so clever, Miss Aeris! How'd you know that's why it's called? My granddad, well, he thought the same, and that's where the name comes from." She sipped her water while swinging a foot, and the boy tried not to stare at that arc.

"So your grandfather was founder and first mayor, and now your father's the current one. I suppose that means you'll be mayor, too?"

"Oh." He blushed. "I-I don't know that."

"Why not?" She shrugged. "It's called 'Wesker's Square.' There seems to be a precedence."

"Ah…" The boy rubbed the side of his neck. "Well that's what my parents would want. 'It would save the town trouble,' is what my mother says, though my dad doesn't do very much." Those final words were spoken in hush as if they were co-conspirators. "Not that much needs to be done."

Aeris indulged him like the rest with a smile as her mind whirred on the word "mother." _You're so very lucky to have them both. Some don't even have one…_the image was instant because it always waited in the corner of her mind. Whirling snow barely matched his skin as his black coat flew in the gale. The lights above the white beneath as emerald pierced ice and mist.

"Miss? Miss?" Time snapped back like a stretched rubber band and she was staring at a mundane face. Swift judgment was harsh and she instantly hushed it before sliding off her chair.

"I'm so sorry Edwin." Relief spread a smile across his freckled face. "I need to go. It's getting quite late." Which was true, but she'd been out much later.

"O-Oh, d-do you want me to walk you home?" He scrambled to his feet, nearly tipping his chair, which drew some sideways stares.

"No." She held up her hands and the boy froze in place. "I have a stop to make before I do."

"Oh, do you?" He hunched his shoulders with a bit of a pout. "Well, can I see you again?"

"You can see me whenever you wish. I come to the square quite often." Soft conversation floated around their heads to the clink of wine glasses and mugs. Aeris really didn't know any good protocol, so she gave him a nod as she turned. Unthreatening eyes still made her back twitch as the maid clutched her book in both hands.

The air was quite heavy promising rain as the flower girl walked the strand. It was her daring that lent her this path and her trust in her guardian still. The Whispers were right there and a sharp shout would bring aid to her on the shore. Less awkward waves lifted her hand as those above saw her passing, but Aeris felt guilty when the rise of her house came into view. Continuing past, she climbed the stairs and went to call on her neighbors above. _At least I didn't lie to him now…and I could certainly use the wine._

Edwin didn't pursue her forcefully and for that the little Cetra was glad. Rather he was just always around, usually waiting in Wesker's Square. She gave him some benefit for he had not tried to follow her home like a ragged, lost dog. A sigh always escaped whenever she saw him, but the flower girl forced a smile to grow. _You see I'm trying. _Though she was unsure whom she was saying it to. Not her dear friend that still kept its silence like a spoiled child holding its breath, and as for her general, she wondered if he could hear her thoughts across the distance. _Not that he would listen or ever invade, which now I wouldn't mind if he did. _

She consented to walk with Edwin by the sea, though memory and rue ruled her heart. The world beneath was still stiffly silent, though Aeris was happy it didn't swallow them down. _At least not the boy. I still doubt you'd harm me. You'd have no one left to ignore. Do you think I'd chase after him then if you did? You think this child holds me here?_ Though it ignored her Aeris still thanked the Planet that the Whispers were safe. Edwin was no protector. She couldn't imagine him swatting a fly let alone killing anyone. If a monster appeared, he'd probably bolt and wonder why she didn't follow.

"And sometimes if you look out real far," the boy was saying with a hand to his brow, "sometimes you can see whales. I'm telling you Miss Aeris, I've actually seen them." He picked up a shell to toss.

"Mm," the flower girl repainted her grin as she slid from her soft flat shoes. They were the type to become unduly soaked and her bare feet preferred sand and waves.

"Wh-What are you doing, miss?" he called as she waded so the blue lapped at her knees.

"Embracing the sea, Edwin." Aeris beckoned him out, but the boy backed away with a shudder.

"Ah no, I wouldn't come out there, a-and you really shouldn't either. There's monsters that live in the deeps."

"Well, this isn't deep, and the water's glass clear. I can see my feet and every toe." He still refused and Aeris just shrugged uncaring that salt stained her dress. Meandering against the sweeping waves as she walked towards her house. It was late afternoon and the sky was full clear when she noticed that Edwin had stopped. Within a moment Aeris reverted to the mentality of the slums. Casting awareness in every direction within the Planet's silence. That aspect alone told her false alarm, though she prayed her faith was still true. _You'd break your petulance to warn me, dear friend? I'll have to trust that at least of you._

"What's wrong, Edwin?" She had one hand to her hip as the waves swirled against her skirt.

"W-Well we're going quite far from town, aren't we, miss?"

"This still counts as the Whispers, Edwin." She indicated the houses above. "We're in clear sight of everything, and we're not even near my house."

"You…live out here?" White rimmed his eyes and he gaped at her taken aback.

"I live in Kes's old place." That brought recognition, but Edwin still wrung out his hands.

"Monsters could be lurking between here and there." He gave an untrusting glance to the distance as the freckles made his skin pale.

"I promise you they aren't." Sun and temperature were dipping swiftly towards eve, so Aeris stepped out of the sea. Wringing salt water from her light dress, she ignored the boy's blushing look down. "How do you think I get home?"

"I assumed you walked back through town. It could be dangerous, miss." He tried to sound stern, but a mocking gull nearly drowned out his words.

_No it's not, _Aeris sighed as they turned around. _My general made sure of that. He killed anything around this place that would dare bring me harm. Is that what I'm calling you now, Sephiroth? _My _general like I'm your flower? _The approaching dusk lit the true smile that made lovely the little maid's face, and Edwin grinning as though he'd gone silly almost bounced in belief it was him.

She told her neighbors before he came over, and Myrna snorted as she sipped her dark wine. Nelly conceded the boy was…nice and patted Aeris on the hand. Edwin jumped like a puppy with a ball when asked if he wanted to have tea, while Aeris felt a twinge of guilt at supposed assumption. _Well what am I supposing? What could be assumed? _She observed the boy with his cup. He was fanning the wispy steam away, and the Cetra tried hard not to judge. _It's really not fair. It's not fair at all to judge him beside the unattainable. _She'd had her book sitting on the table by the window and he finally found the courage to ask. The flower girl shrugged and made a gesture granting him permission. It of course opened to the love poem, but evening had stolen the sun.

"I'm…sorry, Miss Aeris. I-I'd need some more light in order to see these words."

"Of course you would. Who could read in the dark?" Her fist pressed her chin as she gazed to the north and Edwin continued to squint.

He never said her name right. It sounded more like "airs," and he never ceased using the preamble "miss" no matter how much she asked. It was far more annoying than being called "child," but why that was she couldn't say. Edwin's voice was already higher and worse it often squeaked. It was as though it had regretted the change and didn't consider him yet a man. After a month she gave up on resisting the brutal one sided comparison. His only ace was that he was here and whom she wanted was forever gone. A tear escaped her at the thought that Edwin conveniently missed.

And like all other "suitors," he did try to kiss her when the appropriate time had passed. It was late in the evening when the stars were long out, and the moon was bright on the sea. She was walking him out her front door when he half stumbled and fell on her lips. Aeris kept them tight closed and her eyes wide open filled with pity he couldn't see. Edwin didn't push hard and he didn't grab her, and Aeris was glad she need not fight. The instant she saw the boy wobbling forth, she wondered if she'd been a fool. _Near Sector 7 you nearly lost all. _But the Whispers were not Sector 7, and Edwin was not a threat. Granted she didn't want this, but she wasn't disgusted. She just felt…nothing at all. She wanted kisses that seared through the core of her soul not the press of puppy lips. An angel's tender ferocity, not this clumsy and callow youth. She didn't have to stand on her tiptoes, nor did Edwin have to bend. He was taller than her by only some inches and not nearly over a foot. _That should be a good thing. It should be convenient. _But it really was not. _I wonder if he could pick me up and then say my weight was nothing. _She almost smiled against his dry lips, but that would've been far too cruel. No one could ever live up to that standard, least of all this bumpkin boy.

Edwin jerked back, his face in full blush, muttering, "G-Goodnight Miss Aeris." She watched him fling himself out the door and sighed as she locked it behind. It was a habit she'd never lose despite there being no danger.

The next day a high clarion filled the downstairs and the flower girl nearly choked on her coffee. She stared at the phone for what seemed forever for it had never rung before. Breath tightened her chest filled with the peals before she panicked and lunged for the call.

"H-Hello?"

She waited, twisting the cord as her stomach matched every knot.

There was air on the end, and she saw _him_ slow pacing, the phone hidden by his large hand. Silver soft hair would be tangled around, and he'd toss it to clear his ear. He was testing the moment, beseeching his guilt to give him the right thing to say, when the warbling words of, "Miss Aeris, are you there?" demolished her green lit dreams. The very bottom dropped out of the flower girl's heart, as her face lost its light in the sun.

"Edwin. I forgot I gave you my number."

"Oh, yes you did, miss Aeris!" The phone made his voice tinny. She envisioned a puppy hard wagging its tail at just being kicked aside. His _voice wouldn't be tinny. It'd be ever low with the darkness of rue for its edge. Your blood would awaken to the love there within…but he doesn't have your number. And why would he call me? _she thought annoyed. _When he could just step to my side…_

"Miss Aeris? A-Are you there?" Edwin asked again.

"Yes, I'm here. What do you want? You've never called me before."

"I…oh." She could see his foot shuffle, as she sat down to gaze at the sea. "I wanted to invite you over…to meet my parents…and have dinner, too, not just meet them. Have dinner at my house _and _meet my parents, before dinner, of course."

"If you want," she conceded swirling her cup where the liquid scraped the dregs.

It was pretty small as mansions go, not that she'd ever seen one. On the third tier it still was quite modest, and that earned the mayor points. No grand tower thrusting into the sky nor deep into the heart of the earth. It was raining that eve so she brought an umbrella and hoped no storm would cause her alarm. That was far more worrisome than impressing Edwin's parents, nor did Aeris care that her hair was damp. A green dress and green ribbon caused her eyes to astound though the bow was a little soggy. The door was answered by Edwin himself who only gaped at this verdigris view. He was dressed nicely, though as Aeris stepped up, her comparison struck hard again. Her general garbed in leather and straps had more splendor than this boy's vest and tie. She hid behind smiles as he led her in, rubbing a sweaty palm on his pants. Aeris fervently hoped he wouldn't go for her hand. She already felt soaked and bedraggled and didn't want to insult in his house.

His mother was plump, his father was stout as Edwin was thin as a pin. She wondered about genetics then and stifled her laugh with a yawn. All of them had the same boring brown eyes, the color of autumn's lost leaves. They were both very nice, they were both very plain, and they thought she was lovely and kind. Too kind, in fact, his father insisted to give their son so much of her time. Edwin blushed from his chin to ears and took a quick bite for distraction. His mother Adelina patted Aeris's hand and told her her eyes were lovely. The Cetra sipped her chamomile tea and thanked her behind the cup. It felt strange to take such a compliment, since the color wasn't her choice. Pink filled her cheeks to match silver thoughts for it was too close to conversations _they'd_ had. The blush went unnoticed for the Weskers all seemed to draw their astuteness from the same feeble source.

Edwin walked her home at his parents' behest, and Aeris chose not to protest. He did try for her hand, but she hid both away in the pockets of her coat. The rain was now mist the wind scattered about like a child at play. The boy chattered and drowned out the roll of the sea that itself even sighed underneath. Her answers were "Hms," and "Ohs," and "Okays," but he kept on like a friendly gull. He didn't seem to mind her sighs. In fact he talked right through them. Aeris half thought if they ever did marry, she'd have to learn to sigh louder. The very thought made her queasy.

How do you answer "My father is mayor" with "Five years ago I was dead?" How do you say "My murderer saved me" without appearing insane? How do you bring up "I'm in love with my death" and not have them take you away? When you proclaim honestly, "I'm older than I look," and speak not of years but a century. _I'm the daughter of the Planet, _she thought to the waves as her "mother" remained stubbornly quiet. The sea only sighed in perpetual love to the shore that called it back.

Aeris missed silence filled with silver hair and the scent of vanilla and frost. She yearned for black leather around the strongest of arms carefully holding her close. Walking through town her yawns were not fake, but there was no one to pick her up now. Giving Edwin a glance she doubted the boy could carry her even ten steps. What she would give to just be scooped up, fully enveloped in leather sealed strength. To hear the low words, "Sleep, little flower," and know she was utterly safe. _He told me that I should find someone worthy. Edwin is nice and he wouldn't hurt me, but that hardly makes him so. There are probably hundreds of nice boys in the Whispers. I have no interest in them or him, but I suppose that I must try. _

By her house's back door she went for the kiss, turned her head and tried to pull passion. The boy's hands fluttered somewhere near her shoulders like a bird unsure of its wings. He brushed her braid and jerked his hand back as though the hair burned his skin. His mouth did open, but their tongues only touched, as though it were mandatory. Everything about Edwin would be dutiful. Aeris imagined children with boring brown eyes. Green would wither and fade. She pulled back before she was sick.

"Goodnight Edwin," she said to wide eyes so pulled to the green of her own. Hers held nothing but stark memory that shimmered like starlight on snow.

* * *

_Author's Note: So what do you think of Aeris's new love interest? *wryly grins* The two for one week ends here. The next chapter will be posted on July 10 and is entitled **Dutiful Daughter. **As always I leave you with too many thank yous to count._


	17. Dutiful Daughter

_Author's Note: I'm busy tomorrow and tired tonight so I'm not bothering to wait until midnight to post the chapter. I really debated posting two, because this is a fairly short one, but I think you will be happy with what occurs. As we start the descent towards the end, I feel the need to let you know that the very last chapter of this tale **always **makes me cry no matter how many times I read it. So, you have that to look forward to. I hope you enjoy and thank you all for your patronage!_

"**We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us,  
and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our stead."  
-George R R Martin, "A Storm of Swords"**

**Chapter 17  
Dutiful Daughter**

The train was completed before midsummer so she bought a ticket for Costa del Sol. Just for the day. Just to see what life the high season would bring. The station was in Wesker's Square and ran along the mountain. Aeris was happy they'd left her shore undisturbed by tracks. The day it opened was quite an event, almost like a holiday. The young were ecstatic, the old skeptical, but excitement still flared the air. For now it only went between the Whispers and there, but the future held only promise. There was talk one day it would cut through the mountains in order to reach Nibelheim. Aeris smiled sadly at that name and held her secrets within.

The car was clean and sleek and fast, as the flower girl watched the blurred world. Her sigh this time was not to court patience, but relief that she traveled alone. Edwin had hemmed and hawed and babbled about possibly taking a trip. She'd avoided commitment saying something about flowers, then bought a ticket the very next day. She hated to lie, but just couldn't stomach a whole day full of Edwin. "There are just some blossoms that only grow in Costa," she'd told him, "and I'd like to get some seeds." It was business and boring and Aeris just hoped the boy wouldn't want to tag had no need to know that flowers just came as the petulant Planet willed.

She had started to arrange her inexhaustible blossoms for occasions about the town. It kept her hands busy even if her mind was still far too free. There had just been one wedding, an older couple who'd beamed brighter than any half aged. They'd wanted daffodils and baby's breath to remind them time wasn't their master, and the little Cetra couldn't agree more since she was older than them both.

The resort town was definitely livelier than the last time she'd been there. Aeris wore her sandals and sundress, the white one with the blue lace. Removing her shoes, she tiptoed along barefoot on sun bathed beach. The sea licked her toes as she peered about, still seeing the town subdued. Along the grey wall, Aeris paused, the straps of her shoes making grooves in her palm. Though children splashed and bathers napped, she still marked the spot where he'd carried her out. Beneath her hand, the Cetra squinted at the mirage of the horizon. It was there playing in her mind, the afterimage of glory that must've stepped forth from the darkness into day. A string of soft music came to her then, but it was an echo and not the true song. The ocean grumbled deep and forlorn for she'd caught a snippet of ancient argument.

Aeris decided to take dinner at the hotel where they had stayed. The bellboy greeted her with a bright smile though he was overburdened with bags. She didn't wait to see the query in his eyes for where her guardian was, but ducked into the restaurant in the back where no one would know her face.

The last train left right before midnight so the Cetra walked back to the sea. She was apprehensive for he had not been here to ensure no monsters lurked. The beach was deserted for there was no sun, and the chairs looked like bitter bones. The sand shifted cold beneath her soles as the flower girl tiptoed down. She could sense nothing and now had to put her trust in the stubborn world. Her reward was the ocean gleaming soft as if the stars had come down for a visit. There were tiny creatures flittering there, and their luminescence lit the sea. Though they were blue and not haunting green, Aeris was still reminded.

She fell asleep on the train, but was awakened by the conductor doing his rounds. Sleepy and blinking, the Cetra forgot to startle from the shock. The fear came as an afterthought, but it wasn't needed here. Another relieved sighed lifted her chest for there no Edwin waiting. _Well, it's late, _the little maid considered. _He's probably long been abed. _

Aeris let the Cobblestone Way lead her home, not wanted to risk the strand. Though she trusted that it was still safe, she'd had enough adventures for this day. _Adventures…_she shook her head and tried not to scoff, wondering whence came so much judgment. _I haven't had adventures since. Since well… _She pursed her lips while crossing the bridge.

Myrna's and Nelly's lights were off, and Aeris sighed looking up at the moon. It was full as a fat cat drunk on milk, and she hoped that he could see it. _Please, _she began but stopped the thought. What was she even doing? The Planet ignored her. Was she now so desperate she sought favor from the moon? _Were you once living like my world below? Did your children sing you songs? _A sudden memory froze her soul. _What if all worlds have such darkness gnawing at their hearts? What if the moon's heart was utterly swallowed? What if the glow is its soul's remains, residual light screaming in darkness? _She couldn't move for fear, but then she recalled he had sworn to fight just that. His very last task, the one that might end him, but he cared not for she was safe.

Aeris was used to all the locks now, even the one at the back of her house. Though she seldom used it, she knew it quite well with both her fingers and eyes. This was to her advantage as summer green was by then buried in salt. The sea came in. The sea went out, but left its stain on the flower girl's face, and her bed so large did not judge her nor did the black feather that caught her tears.

_Child._

Starlit dreams brought her what she desired as his scent swam sweet to her heart.

_Child._

She squeezed the black shirt tight to her breast, melding material into her skin. Sunlight had banished the stars from the day though they waited beyond the veil.

_Child…go to him._

She opened her eyes, sharply focused from the force of her dreams.

_Who is that?_

_Dearest child…_

She sat straight up in her bed.

_Are you talking to me again?_

_Child, you must go._

_Is he in danger? _ Aeris raised her arms in a stretch as the wind tickled her loose, chestnut hair. She grinned at the thought. He could break men's necks with just one hand and break their minds with even less.

_You both will be, _the Planet said, and the flower girl lost all mirth.

_What do you mean? _Her eyes sought the sky that gleamed in bright, lazy rose.

_Go to him._

_He told me not to. _It was exasperating to constantly follow commands. Pushing back her hair, Aeris tried to ignore how her ribs jumped to each desperate heartbeat.

_You _must _go._

_I don't know where he is. _Her lids fluttered as the sight took her mind. Boreal and cold, green limed with frost, and her skin was now ashen as snow.

_Truly, dear friend? I must go there? The past and the future to meet again. _She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and slid from the sheets to the floor. _So I'm the dutiful daughter again? Doing whatever you bid? What about my life in the Whispers?_

But the Planet only hummed in her head. Despite her annoyance, despite her fear, Aeris shook to hear that again. She refused to cry, though the world knew her heart was weeping as she forced her eyes dry. Massaging the bridge of her nose with a sigh, the flower girl sensed no overt urgency, but the harmony there was dark.

There were affairs to put together and a flower order to make. It was for a funeral, and Aeris prayed the foreboding was not because this was a sign. She mentioned casually to her friends that she'd be traveling to seek out new blooms. Myrna poured her wine and pouted. She didn't like drinking alone. Aeris hid a smile in the dark, furry drink for her neighbor sure suffered to constantly imbibe with only herself for company. Nelly's children wailed and tugged for they loved poetry only from her. Aeris gave them daisies, including the boys, though none of them knew why she smiled so sad.

She visited the bank to withdraw some gil, something that could never be useless. Then to the church that had been so avoided, much to the Cetra's guilt. With the Planet then silent she felt it quite useless to pray in futility. The pews were sleek. The nave carpeted. The altar was cushioned and soft. Light poured in through fine stained glass with nary a crack in between.

_You speak again, my dearest friend…though should I still call you that? You abandoned me to silence and lone because you were upset. My dearest friend may be my general…though he abandoned me, too. _She frowned at that, pressing nails to her knuckles. _What is this danger that threatens us both, specifically, that is?_

The answer received was, _Go to him, _which Aeris heard at least ten times a day. She was doing her best to make prepared, but the world below was sore impatient. Even without words she felt its harsh hum driving into her heart. When she dreamt of him, he still held her hands, but the pain in his eyes would melt souls. Always and around was _Go to him, child, _as his light burned with both fear and joy. _No never fear. He couldn't know that. _Thought as the dream's apogee faded.

It was impossible to avoid Wesker's Square for more than a single week. She had taken Edwin's calls and made every excuse. She was tired or maudlin and wouldn't be good company. She had a touch of a cold. Her house was a mess and she must now clean it from top to bottom, side to side. Her flowers were dying (even as they grew to overshadow her front porch), and now was the time that they would need to be plucked. Eventually she had to visit the square for such things that she would need.

Edwin was waiting and he bounced to his feet, bounding over to her side. "Ah Miss Aeris! I've missed you so."

"Thank you Edwin. That's very kind."

"My parents, they like you," he said while they walked up the stairs to the stores above.

"Do they?" She fixed the bag on her hip. "I'm sure mine would've liked you, too."

Edwin beamed as he took the stairs backwards so that they could talk face to face. "They said if I wanted…wanted to ask…well, they'd be okay with that."

Aeris didn't blink and tried hard not to shrug to the half formed proposal. She was wearing her old brown dress, the one that had traveled the most. It had been cleaned, but that process had faded and frayed it even more. Already shapeless and really too large, it hid her tiny frame within. While her hair she'd left messy with fly-a-ways in her braid that was taut to pull her face.

"This way Edwin," she told the boy before stepping into the cool of the store. His face was still red, and the air within did nothing to ease that heat. Aeris scanned the high shelves full of shoes and prayed there'd be a different sales clerk. Her breath came out in resignation as the boot burner appeared. The woman gave Edwin a dismissive glance despite the fact he was the mayor's son, then showered the flower maid with a smile that nearly drowned in its own pretense.

"Why are you buying boots, Miss Aeris?" the boy asked as he sat beside.

"They're for my flowers, Edwin," she said lacing up a sturdy brown pair. A bead of sweat trickled below one of her bangs. She really did hate so to lie. _Is it less cruel if it's used for protection? To consider another's heart? _She concentrated on lace through eyelet guiding her thoughts with that practical path. _I doubt he'd follow me. He's far too timid. I'll probably have to lie more. _She frowned as she mis-laced, rethreading the string, her thoughts now lined with guilt. _I should just tell him that I'm not interested, though that really should be quite clear. _The escaping sigh was lost in Edwin's hum. _Though he's not the shiniest stone…_

She bought the boots much to the salesclerk's disgust since they were really made for a man. All the ones for her gender were dainty and high, not meant for a journeyer's road. Aeris was happy the smallest size fit...though she'd have to wear thicker socks. Outside again the clock tolled twelve and Edwin jumped like a caught fish.

"Oh, Miss Aeris, I…have to go. I promised I'd meet my father for lunch. It's…a council meeting of some sort and he wants me to be there." He looked down and blushed and the sun hid its face so as not to be blamed for a burn. "D-Do you want to come? I know he won't mind. He likes you…like I said."

"No Edwin, I can't." She forced herself somber. "I've errands to run and flowers to tend." _I keep blaming my blooms, don't I?_

"Alright, Miss Aeris. Well…I'll see you later."

_No you won't…_and she was truly sad. Watching the boy bound up the tiered stairs, she could only think of her puppies. _So many puppies…why do I draw them bouncing to my side?_

There was another store, farther back and closer to the pier. Salt and fish and tar and smoke gave it a halo of scent. There were no bad parts of the Whispers, but this was not really her place. Like the bar so named _The Crown and Anchor_ welcomed more seafaring folk, and they were jolly, if rough around the edges, polite to her as she walked by. It was right by the store that she'd found by luck on an early morning stroll. The Whispers were safe, but the danger around was no secret to the townsfolk. If you decided to leave, better be prepared to face the monster hordes. Her general had killed quite a few swarms, but they'd never be fully gone. Eventually, Aeris would have to face foes if she wasn't lucky enough to hide.

An occupant behind the glass sent poison through her soul, and the Cetra's face turned bloodless. Pushing into the shop with a soft-sounded jingle that buried itself in her woe. In the window was a beautiful wood staff, darkened oak and taller than she. At the top what was set appeared to be stone, but appearances were deceptive. Flashing with brilliance of emerald and jade, there could be no doubt. The shop was empty save for the keeper who was wiping the counter down. Behind him hung swords and spears and staves while the corners held bracers and shields. The glass that he cleaned contained guns of more types than she could count on all of her fingers. The moment she closed the wood staff in her palm, warmth spread across her skin. Striding up to the counter, Aeris didn't bother to hide her summer eyes dark as night's sea.

"Where did you get this? Where is it from? Was it ripped from the heart of the world?"

The shopkeeper snorted in his surprise to see the flower maid before. There weren't many to seek his business out and those who did were not like her. His gaze darted to the item in question clenched in a furious hand. This was his store and any with _that _tone could see their way swiftly out, but there was something in this little maid's eyes that pushed the shopkeep back, away from the guns, but not too close to the edges behind.

"N-No, not at all. I've a supplier who just…finds them for me. They're very rare. The finding n-not the ripping part. We don't do that anymore. It's why it's so expensive. S-See for yourself."

Aeris lifted the price tag and scanned it with glare hot enough to set it ablaze. Shock at the cost cooled it a bit, but she was still unsatisfied. "You're sure about that? You're 'supplier' is honest."

"He's a man of this very town. I promise you, miss." He held up his hands in hope to show no lie was hidden within.

_Peace child…he speaks the truth. _The murmur resonated to her bones. In the vibration Aeris relaxed and was herself again. The shopkeeper pulled back a bit at the change, frightened now by the sudden calm. He recognized her of course. It was a small town and a newcomer was quite an event. Especially the pretty maid who'd bought Kes's old house under circumstances no one could remember, and now she was somehow involved with Wesker's timid son.

"I'm so so sorry, sir." The flower girl leaned the staff to the counter, clasping her little hands. "It's just I know my history…no one wants a repeat of the past."

The shopkeeper nodded vigorously. "Aye, yes, you're right there, miss. D-Did you want to buy that?" It started with stutter but ended strong. He was a businessman after all.

Aeris left spinning her new purchase watching the sphere catch the sun. Flecks of green where thrown on her face save for her eyes that shamed the light. _I do have to find him, don't I, dear friend? _She thought beginning the long trek back home. _He's the only one I can be honest with, the only one I can show my true self. No one else in this world knows who I am, who I was before the dark…_

Aeris's phone rang the night before she left, and she sighed for she knew who it was. She had no more lies to give as she picked up her pen and let the last echo fade. Sipping rose tea, the flower maid conceded that she would indeed miss this. Sunset through her window made her bangs look auburn before she pushed them out of her face. She stroked the cover of her book idly as honest words flowed from her hand.

_Dear Edwin,_

_I lied to you. I told you my friends were dead. Well not a full lie, but not the truth, though I feel that's somehow worse. I do have one "friend" who is left, though I hesitate to name him that. I performed my part like a silly, young girl, a role I can no longer play. I am far too old for you, and my heart has already been lost. I'm chasing it now. That's why I'm gone. It's calling for me to find it. _

_I'm so sorry if I led you astray. That was never my intention. You are a kind and gentle boy. You remind me of a puppy. It wouldn't be fair to take your heart when I don't have one to give. _

_This is the true me. The one never seen. The guileless and the honest. I wish I could be fully truthful with you, but I've seen things you'd never believe. Maybe one day I can explain. Maybe one day I'll have the words._

_Best,_

_Aeris Gainsborough_

It didn't seem like enough, but she finished her tea as the sun was won over by star. The sea drank them all, and the Planet and waves seemed to have come to a truce. Her train would leave tomorrow early before daylight returned. It was the best way to ensure there'd be no Edwin waiting. She'd mail the letter before she left. He'd probably receive it that day. _You'd never forgive me, would you, dear friend if I settled for poor silly Edwin?_

Before bed she walked the length of her house, feeling each wall and every door. Unshod so the texture of floor and rug brushed against her soles. She was only sad because it was nice and she would miss the comfort. The Whispers hadn't been Aeris's home since she'd been robbed by a blink.

* * *

_Author's After Note: I must give a preemptive apology if I have messed up how materia is mined making Aeris's anger for naught. I recall a line in the game (I believe it is written on something) that speaks of "Mako ripped from the Planet," and that seems not only violent but violating. Materia is concentrated Mako (from what I remember and have read on the wiki)., and this seems like something Aeris would be very unhappy about._

_Next week's chapter **When the Forest Sleeps **will be posted Friday July 17.  
_


	18. When the Forest Sleeps

**"One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel."  
-Doctor Who**

**Chapter 18  
When the Forest Sleeps**

Trains are sleepy when woken that early and the before dawn thrummed in mauve. Aeris stayed awake so fueled by coffee clothed in brown dress and green coat. It was a bit warm, but it was better than laying the thick garment over her lap. She swung a crossed leg with heavy boot so it bumped against the seat. Her bag lay across her stomach while her staff was loose in her hand. She was happy the car was empty as she felt the tickle against her breast. Smiling with barest sheen of pink, the flower maid closed a fist to her heart. The black feather hidden from wandering eyes was her only tangible memory.

Costa del Sol was still in twilight, and the train station was high enough to see lonely waves. Her arrangement was scheduled for nine o'clock sharp, but the train only took an hour. So Aeris wandered again by the sea for the sunrise that honored the shore. The sand would be cold to clinging night air, but the Cetra didn't care about that. She scrunched her face though at the sight of her boots and the thought of thick socks beneath. With a soft sigh, she relinquished that dream to just sit on the beach with knees clutched.

Her last visit to Costa had not been just for leisure for there was a shipyard here. One more established, one more experienced in sailing the icier seas. She had found a captain who'd take enough gil to bear the Cetra where she desired. Though it was deserted, as he had insisted, populated by frozen bones. No collectors even ventured there, no archeologists, not even thieves. The world had had its fill of death with no interest in its leavings, but the captain liked money and for the right price, he'd have taken the maid to Mideel. Aeris would've been destitute if not for the fact that she'd never be poor again. All the money she'd taken from her old house went to that exorbitant price. She could've lived for years in the bitter slums on a fraction of the cost, and the number of children that she could've saved made Aeris swallow her tears. Because of her though, the ship's fee was cheaper for those going to Winterborough. They would have an extra day to wait, but the price was slashed by half.

Aeris stayed on the beach til the sun let her know she'd regret an extra minute. The shine from the water made her squint as she rose brushing sand from her dress. The clock struck eight, and she walked up the coast past where the sunbathers normally dwelled. The pier was much noisier guarded by gulls, which outnumbered the people there. Creaky wood groaned under her slight weight as she spotted her ship bobbing high. Her chest loosened slightly. She hadn't been cheated. The whole world was not like Midgar. She read the ship's name along its broad side. Moonfall _to bring me to moonlight. _It was painted dark blue despite silvery title, and the letters showed color more grey. _It's really not grey…_the image stole through, as she flashed her ticket before climbing aboard. _Not grey nor white, it's truly silver, the color of moonlight and ash._

The captain knocked on her cabin door as she was organizing her things. It would take all night to reach that shivering shore, and Aeris decided that she would be comfortable. She'd take a nap before seeking out lunch. The bed looked more than adequate, and she hoped the sway would become soothing soon. Accommodations were like a lesser hotel, and hers were better than most. _I suppose they should be. _She stood on her toes to peep through the hole in the door. With a high, "Oh!" she jerked on the knob to the captain's weather-lined face.

"Still set on this fool's errand?" he asked, and Aeris stood straighter in pride.

"Yes, sir, I am. We have an arrangement."

He snorted and walked away. Eyes wide the little maid dashed to the hall as the man swayed down to the rhythmic roll. He waved a hand back without turning around. "Tomorrow morning at six o'clock sharp."

"Th-Thank you, sir," she called and though he didn't acknowledge, the Cetra still sighed with relief. Though the bed wasn't her own, it still served its purpose as the early trip caught up. Far below the water she still sensed the Planet ever fluttering through her mind. Its song calmed her nerves and helped her ignore the lurch of the ocean beneath. Afterwards Aeris didn't eat much lunch and was glad that there was soup. Food and sway did not please her stomach. It could stand one, but not both at a time. She gave up on that to sip broth and warm tea that was even weaker than water.

Retrieving her map Aeris laid it out, fingers a-tremble to trace the path. He'd left it for her, and she wondered at that, dismissing what she yearned to believe. Pen scratchings and word of mouth held promise she prayed the truth would keep. Darting her gaze between the two places Winterborough kept pulling her eyes, but the Planet whispered something else. _I suppose I'll trust you, my dear friend. I mean you _were _right about him._

Aeris didn't want dinner. She just wanted sleep, sliding the feather into her book. Sighing at such a silly thing, as she read the fair words once more. The sunset on the endless water though drew her up to the open deck. Leaning on the rail, she shared a smile with a child so entranced by the light. A larger wave buckled against the hull, and Aeris gripped the cold bars tight. The youngster beside remained untroubled holding her mother's hand, and the flower girl wished the ship were smaller so that she could blame the spray.

Six came too soon, but she witnessed five by the clock in her dark cabin room. She forced herself shower, gritting her teeth to the cold, but was glad for it helped her to wake. The towel was quite scratchy to tender, pale skin, but the flower girl cherished it still. She'd laid out her clothes the short night before to ensure she wouldn't forget. Leggings and sweater to create layers under her heavier dress. It was summer in the Whispers and Costa del Sol, so clothes for the cold were sore lacking. Aeris had to make do with what she could find on the leftover racks from last frost. She slipped on heavy socks that covered the gap on her ankles and tight laced her boots. Braiding her long hair high on her head, the Cetra spiraled it in rosy bun. Her bangs she left as she always did, thinking of her ribbon with a smile. Scarf and gloves were put on next, the latter stirring memory. She buttoned up her dark green coat, a little clumsy with covered hands. Finally slinging her satchel over one shoulder before retrieving her oaken staff.

The chill above decks struck Aeris hard so she stepped back with a gasp. A burst of frost shimmered in front of her lips that already felt cracked from the cold. Wetting them was a bad idea for the north air just drank the damp down, but Aeris was stubborn and tapped her staff forth, letting it lead her to the prow. The shore was approaching, white as sea foam. _But not silver. It can't claim that._

The captain watched as she disembarked and a few curious passengers, too. There was a small pier, but nothing else, and Aeris stood alone looking up.

"You know I'm not coming back," the captain called down with what could've been slight concern.

"I understand, sir…I think I'll be fine."

He didn't try to hide his surprise. Then with a "Hmph" he stumped away back to the _Moonfall's_ bridge.

She didn't know why she watched the departure as the bitter wind caught her loose bangs. Resolution was now her lifeline as the ship wove its way through the ice. One blast of the horn shook the still wilds, but dared not echo to disturb its deeps. Aeris left the sad dock with its splintering wood where frost limned the grass in wane light. It turned to full snow unpacked beneath, and the air smelled fresh as if newly washed. It was more mist than cloud that shrouded the sun so a pale nimbus ringed the light. Wind gust like gale tried to steal the maid's breath, as it cut through her clothes to the bone.

_Did you bring me this far to have me die now? _

She heard again, _Go to him, child._

_Is that all you can say? Where do I go?_

_North, ever north, dearest one._

The snow seasoned air softly shifted to petals, but only in her mind. She remembered the flowers that grew by her porch, the mountain that shadowed the tide. She thought of the echo of starlight on sands and how foam stole that light for the sea. _I may never see the Whispers again, _but Aeris had long ago accepted that fate would do with her what it willed. She gripped her staff tight and prayed for protection, as she followed low, humming command.

She knew where she was. There could be no forgetting…she'd passed this way so long before. _The village that death has long left in peace…how could I not know, my dear friend? _Aeris walked between the bones of beasts that had died long before horror's descent. She didn't disturb them for they, too, were the dead, and the dead deserve nothing but rest. They'd certainly earned it for those who once studied and dug were a century gone. Their leavings were almost full buried in earth, making Aeris think of the layers of time. _Perhaps one day long distant from now others will come in their stead. They'll discover the tools of the ones from before. Then they, too, will leave and die, and others will find what they've left. On and on unto forever…and will I still linger? Will we? _

She touched a still pine and spoke no word, but the forest awoke for the Planet's dear daughter. It closed her around like a lover's embrace, as the wind dashed with cold through dark green. Pushing against it with the help of her staff, the flower girl spun once around. Getting her bearings amongst the tall pines so century's memory did descend.

_The way to my city so long ago taken. _She let her feet follow that path. Aeris knew it like the lines on her palm that though hidden were still part of her skin. _My body, _she wondered, boots muffled on needles. _Is my broken body still there? _Snow clung like white shadow to ever dark green, but little had reached the floor. _Is this flesh new where I now reside? I have no wound but memory. How did you do it, my dearest friend? How did you bring me back? _This morbid dreaming seemed to float above her mind like captured bubbles in murky glass. She pulled off a glove and the cold clenched her hand, prickling taut on the top of her fist. Aeris peered at her fingers so fragile and slim, incongruent rough nails with soft skin. If this were new flesh then her old flesh was gone, picked clean by bright fish and cruel time. The flower girl slipped back on her glove as she felt herself turning due west.

It was so silent she could hear the air freeze even as the sun spoke afternoon. _Where are you taking me, dearest friend?_

_Follow…_was her only answer. There were no monsters in the wood for this was a sacred place. It led to the Forgotten City, where Aeris had given her life. Something tugged at the Cetra's heart, and she wanted to turn her feet there, but only shades now lived within, and that was not where he was. She was sure if she found him, she was certain if she asked that Sephiroth would take her there. Then grief would defeat him for in that fated place dwelled his most hated memory.

The flower maid had to stop before she stumbled near spent, but she couldn't linger long for the cold. The wind blew snowflakes from the trees so it flurried with the sharp notes of pine. Sleepiness swept over as she leaned on a trunk, but Aeris roused herself quickly and stood. The cold would creep over far gentler than steel, and squeeze her heart with talons of ice. She was neither frightened nor stalled by such truth. It just was what it was. _Unless I make fire…_the instant she thought it, the snap of burnt wood turned her head. Smoke and scorched pine seared Aeris's nostrils, and the Cetra bit her lip stepping soft. The clearing she entered let pine shadows dance, raking their needles over what crouched. Two men jolted up to this bright apparition, as Aeris caught her breath in surprise.

The men kept their eyes glued tight to the maid, and shadows bloomed in hollow pits. Each bore beards tangled and scraggly. Both smelled like moldy bread. The wind picked up to bring her this scent, unshaken by the chill. _They've been here a very long time, _she thought and was sorry for their plight. Their coats were ragged and held together by strips, and wear had given them fingerless gloves.

"Good…afternoon," Aeris said quite clearly despite how unsure she was. Picking her way down the slight decline, she made sure they saw the grip on her staff. Flicking their eyes so brief to the weapon before the one returned to the lump in his hand. The other poked the fire and cleared his throat with a cough as harsh as a crow.

"Not much good in it, now is there? And it's not afternoon anymore. Evening doesn't wait up here." He pointed, but Aeris didn't follow, only nodded to acknowledge. She stayed back to keep both in her sight, wrapping her hands round the staff. Her Midgar senses were coming back, as the world jangled notes like crooked bird song.

"Well, sit," the man said pulling forth an old knife to scrape its rust on a stone. "I don't know how you got here, but you won't leach any more heat from the fire by being about." The other said nothing and continued to clean the young rabbit bleeding in his hand. She pulled a safe distance from the blaze, laying her staff before folded knees. Her satchel she kept couched in her lap just in case the time came to run.

The crack of the fire drew her eyes back down, but she let her gloves hold the warmth for her hands. With a scowl the speaking man barraged it with sticks. "The wood here burns like shit," he grumbled as it squealed and split with more smoke than heat. "Too piney, too snowy, too cursed, I say." He swung a quick glance to his companion.

Aeris swallowed anger that wasn't her own saying, "Maybe it doesn't want to be burned."

Fire shadow hid the top of his face, but the bitter mouth twisted in scowl. "Well how else are we supposed to stay warm? It's colder than a corpse's cunt and only getting worse."

"I don't…I don't know." Her tongue almost froze in profanity's echo, as she tried to rub heat back to her arms. The squelch of the other man's knife turned to wet clang as he pried away tiny bones. "I'm sorry," she stammered. That sound pulled swift tightness between her shoulder blades. "It's just…i-it doesn't like it. It doesn't like it at all. The forest is what I mean." _Dearest friend, what should I do?_

_Wait._

The man guffawed as spit flecked dry lips and spattered his dirty collar. "The _forest _doesn't like it? Are you stupid, girl? How they hell'd you make it all the way here?"

Aeris fingered the sphere ensconced in her staff, but said nothing in response. The quiet man reached over and stirred the flames, and the poker squeaked like a tortured rat. He tried to rouse embers to coax them to heat, and Aeris saw old wounds on his arm.

"What's in your bag?"

She jerked at directness so different from her general. He was straightforward, but always polite, and his voice never oozed such…hunger. _I need to stay sharp, _she chided herself. The world beneath just pulsed soft and low.

"Some travel rations, bread and cheese, though the latter two are probably spoiled."

They both rushed her, and Aeris jumped up, clutching her oaken staff, but they only attacked her journey bag, ripping through for any morsel of food. She half considered whacking them both over the head, but stilled her hand since they were obviously starving. They devoured everything that they could find, and she was happy her book was hidden. It could've been taken for over dry steak and been consumed as well. Not until they'd returned to their side of the fire, did Aeris retrieve her ransacked bag. Her hand twitched to hold the staff by her knee, and she kept her feet placed to easily rise. The silent man skewered the well mangled corpse onto a sharpened stick. The scent of burning flesh turned the flower girl's stomach, destroying the remnants of appetite.

"What are you doing here, girl?" the other man ask, crumbs flecking his lips and torn coat.

"I'm looking for a friend."

"Heh. You don't have any friends here, girl, and neither do we. We've been stuck here forever. Your forest it seems won't let us loose. We wander in circles and nowhere at all." He flicked his gaze right and lifted his chin. "We've gone every way but out."

"How'd you get stuck her?" She pushed a bang to the side, surprised her temple was prickling with sweat.

"Looking for bones, but none we found out there were fully uncovered. No one had done that in a long time. Figured we'd make a profit."

"But…that's outside where the forest doesn't sleep." She squinted trying to understand. "What led you in here?"

The man only shrugged taking a drink from his flask. He made a sour face, and Aeris figured it was brackish, steeped too long in pine.

"I could probably lead you out," the flower girl offered as the rabbit popped and squealed even in death. "Though there's no way to get back south."

"There's a passageway through the mountains to Winterborough, though it's rough and filled with monsters. Still better than this accursed place with its silence and its cold."

"I'm sure it's cold in Winterborough, too. It's always winter here."

He half grunted to acknowledge and a sudden gust found them ringing all three in frost. The fire doubled over like a man kicked in the gut, fluttered, but didn't go out. Aeris released her frozen breath unsure if upset or relieved. Both Planet and forest hated this blaze encroaching on its sanctity.

One by one the stars pierced the heavens so light could seep through the holes. The Cetra glanced past the two hungry men before letting them find what fell down. A shimmering curtain that rode through the sky like night fire painted in green. The pines stretched to this ribbon but could never touch where crimson flare crinkled like dawn.

"The lights…" she whispered and was rewarded with a snort that broke the spell as she didn't quite glare.

"They fall every night it doesn't snow." Disdain covered the man's ravaged face as he rolled his eyes up to the sky. "You get sick of 'em pretty quick."

"I don't think I ever would…" The flower girl slipped her hood overhead and fixed the scarf about her neck. Even with a fire every particle of air floated within endless cold.

"You bring any blankets with you, girl?" her "host" asked as he slid near the fire.

"No." Aeris stopped herself wrapping her arms around. "I just have my coat and scarf and gloves."

"You'll probably die before the night's out." He took a bite of the half-grown rabbit, spitting out a burnt bone with a curse. Firelight twinkled the emerald orb that was still duller than the curtain above, and Aeris stood to unwind her small body like a twisted screw. The stave in full swing smashed the other man's jaw, and only the crack made a sound. His outstretched fingers went limp as he fell, but pine needles dulled the thud. Blood spurted out of broken back teeth making the fire hiss.

Blinded by frost in front of her lips, the Cetra whipped the oak staff back around. A knobby hand caught it, and with a sharp jerk, wrenched the weapon from the flower girl's grasp. Aeris lurched forward and the man caught her wrist dragging her close as she squirmed.

"You killed my friend." He glanced to the ground where the limp body sprawled before kicking it away from the fire. Aeris writhed like a cat in a trap while her wrist turned in his clutch. When he faced her once more the closeness did nothing to change his eyes from blackened pits. "You did me a favor. I was probably going to gut him tonight. Your chatter broke the silence. Do you know how long it's been?" His eyes skittered over like a spider drunk on wine. "Since I've seen anything besides his ugly face?"

"You're not going to do this," she told him far calmer than she herself believed. The man coughed with laughter and washed the maid's face with his rancid breath.

"What's going to stop me? You with your stick?"

"You'll regret whatever you're planning." She gave him her eyes praying they were enough. "I can lead you out if you let me go."

He was done talking so twisted her wrist, and Aeris screamed as her knees buckled in. Scrabbling for purchase in the snow, the Cetra aimed a kick towards his ankle. It glanced to the side, and the maid lost her footing as he twisted her arm hard behind. The flower girl refused to soil her pride with the whimper that grew in her throat. She pushed on his chest tangling fingers in the strands of threadbare clothes, but the man's knobby hand opened her smaller with a brutal squeeze. Keeping that pressure he kicked at her knees and her teeth flashed as she bit a hard knuckle. Howling, her assailant released his grasp as bloody skin scraped her teeth. His hand went back and Aeris braced herself as a dull thud heralded the blow.

Above her high, a much larger hand engulfed her attacker's wrist. Breath burst from her throat on the wings of a gasp that brought bright tears to her eyes. It took her a moment to see that she was free as the man stared dull in confusion. Then he lifted his head to the light that fell down, a storm of boiling green.

The flower girl half stumbled back into a solid form. When the wind blew it spilled silver winter over her shoulders sweet as a kiss. Aeris tilted her face back and up, and the Planet sang to the rush of her heart. There was nothing in his eyes but empty fire, but he wasn't looking at her. The little Cetra did not deserve the wrath that bled down from above.

"Did he hurt you, my little flower?"

Aeris flexed her hands, bit her lip, and could only answer, "Yes…"

Sephiroth destroyed his wrist in a wet, squelching crunch like a wolf crushing a marrow filled bone, and the man filled the north with the mist of his screams as he hung in that vice-like grip.

"Get down on your knees," the Great General said with a voice like echoes in a forest of time, "and beg her for mercy. Beg for your worthless life."

Those terrible eyes followed his fall, Mako split by shivers of night. Nothing moved that winter mask as the general rolled bone pulp in his fist. Shrieking through teeth so tight they cracked, the would-be rapist turned to the maid. He begged for his life. He begged for sweet death. He begged for this torture to end, and she could only stare in horror of what could've been and what was.

"Do you want me to kill him for you, Aeris?"

She spun. "No no, please don't!" Curling her hands on her rescuer's chest, she beseeched his eyes her way.

Sephiroth turned back to the cowering wretch. "Do you hear that? Do you hear this mercy?" His left hand clenched as he fought not to draw the great sword and defy his rose, but tiny fingers still brushed what skin was bare as warm as summer's best day. He enclosed the flower girl in his free arm in gentleness belying the wrath. "Leave this place and you better pray if we meet again that she's by my side. I wanted to hear you scream." He jerked his hand away and the man struggled to his feet, cradling his ruined limb. Nary a glance was spared for the other as he ran through the frost limned pines.

Sephiroth wrapped both arms around his flower as she sobbed her fear away. Tears shimmered like stars on her uplifted face bathed in both lights from above. He wiped them away before they could freeze and murmured, "I have you, Aeris."

"You really do," she whispered. "You saved me again. How did you ever find me?"

Sephiroth softly smiled. "It's always winter here. So when I caught a whiff of summer, I knew where I should go. And besides that, little flower, my joy is tied to the beat of your heart. I could find you anywhere…" The general crouched suddenly serious as he took her tiny hands. "Why are you here, Aeris?"

The Cetra could only look at him in pure awe, robbed of words by his beauty so near. The silent forest and hanging lights were hushed in the gleam of his eyes. She looked down at his hands, cloaked in black leather, and completely engulfing her own. They were the same that had crushed a man's wrist, but were beyond gentle with her. "Would you believe me," she stammered, "if I said I took a very long and elaborate walk?"

Laughter mellowed the emerald bright, as Sephiroth stood back up. Enclosing the maid in his arms once more, he laid a gloved hand to her cheek. "I haven't laughed since the day I left you." She turned her face to his palm, not carrying about the leather. "Tell me truly, Aeris." That lifted her eyes and his lit summer green. "Why did you disobey? I told you you mustn't follow."

"A-Are you angry with me?"

He couldn't stand the fear and pushed back her bangs to lay a kiss on her rumpled brow. "I could never be angry with you, little flower, but I am concerned. If something had happened to bring you to harm, I'd never forgive myself."

She sighed and caught a long lock of his hair, the silk memory returned at a touch. "I was obeying another order…even higher than a general's."

Her words widened his eyes as light overflowed, and Aeris lost breath to his brief expression. It was concealed quick, but the Cetra had seen, and her shiver was not for the cold. Sephiroth tilted her chin and traced her lips, and the distraction did its work. His sharp slivered pupils were utterly still on the soft upturned face. Her hood had slipped back in her previous struggles, her braid tumbled down her back. Hairs had fallen into her face and her bangs wisped with want of a brush. Through this all, his eyes pulsed down as his thumb gently stroked her cheek.

"What…is it?" She blushed as she spoke which at least helped warm her cheeks.

"I forgot, little flower…how I forgot how tiny and perfect you are."

"Oh, Seph…I must look awful-"

"You're beautiful, Aeris. In this world of endless horrors you shine with undying light." He bent down to her and she parted her lips, as the Planet sang bright in her ears. A full harmony, a chorus of joy to make up for its long time mute. Sephiroth drank deep of what he thought lost, sliding a hand beneath her braid. Aeris clung to his neck seeking up for the taste, her feet nearly leaving the ground. He released with a bite for just a brief moment before claiming her mouth once more. Around her small waist he tightened his arm, as his other hand warmed her chilled cheek. Defying the dark, defying the cold to the swirl of the northern lights. He kissed her brow. He kissed her eyes. He kissed her cheeks and throat. The latter made moan move low beneath as the Great General half smiled.

"Shall we go then, little one. You and I?"

She placed a swift kiss on his cheek before Sephiroth re-stood to his height. He brushed a knuckle to the spot, looking at his glove in gracious awe. "Let me just get my things." Aeris turned in his arms, but he was loath to let her go. She almost chided him in jest until she noticed the form far from the fire.

"Oh gods!" Her hands flew up to her mouth as Sephiroth tilted his head. "The other man, the one I…" She whirled and buried her face in his coat to the general's joy if slight confusion. Her words were muffled in blackest leather, but his hearing was made for such. "I killed him…"

"That troubles you?"

"Or course it does!" She stared up in shock. His face was calm to half-lidded eyes as she worried her lower lip. "I've never killed _anyone _before."

"But you fought."

"But I never killed." She took a breath. "I have to see if he's alive."

Sephiroth's expression did not change, but his arms fully locked around. He hated himself for caging her so even as he said, "His heart still beats."

"Y-You can hear that?" Her palms rested on leather clad arms, and despite himself he smiled.

"Yes, I can, so he lives still. You know I won't lie to you. I won't cage you either," he said with regret. "If you ask, I'll still let you go."

"You're the best protector I've ever had."

"And this is the sweetest reunion I've ever known…"

That made her so sad for his concealed pain, as he indeed opened his arms.

"You truly feel bad." It wasn't a question as Sephiroth followed her towards the flat form.

"Yes, I do." Aeris picked up her satchel, sighing for the mess of crumbs that now dwelled within. She grabbed her staff, too, just in case the prone form suddenly roused. _My general would still move faster than us._ "If he were awake he'd be begging for mercy."

"Let him beg," Sephiroth replied. "He would've made you do far worse and then raped you anyway."

She shuddered as she neared his side. "I know…I mean I know that's true. They were desperate men."

"Are you excusing their actions, little flower…as you've forgiven me?" He had placed himself where he could swiftly act if anything went awry. Calculating where she'd be if he had to slay this foe. _I'd snap his neck before he touched her. She need not endure the sword's sight._

"I'm not excusing them, Sephiroth, not in the least." She bent over the still frozen form. "You crave absolution, but I still have to forgive even if it's unasked." The Cetra smiled sadly. "Even if it's only for my peace."

She didn't want to touch the filthy man as the remains of the fire succumbed. The air only trembled to brief rising winds that sent snow from the trees in a flurry. Crystalline tears sifted through the night, coating her skin and his with its chill. The only one unaffected was the Great General standing tall above. His hair matched the shimmer and his skin seared with warmth that melted the most stubborn flake.

"We can't leave him here," Aeris decided. "He'll die in the night's bitter cold." She clasped her hands and looked up at Sephiroth, the blank mask that shielded his face. "That death will be on my head," she whispered, and the general's breath misted with sigh. His eyes cut the man as they bored deeply in to turn his waking mind back on. He moved too quickly for Aeris to see enclosing her again in his arms.

The ever silent figure pushed itself up, wobbling around a fixed point. His hand went to his jaw as his mouth worked cracked teeth, spitting what was broken out. Frozen hate lifted his eyes that quick melted within boiling wrath. He cast bitter glare to the flower girl whose lip trembled as he climbed to his feet. No glance went to looking for his once companion, as the woods swallowed him down with a shush.

"I never want to commit an act of violence again," Aeris whispered when he was gone.

"Don't worry, little flower. You won't have to. I'll be the one to bear that sin. My hands are forever unclean."

She took that "unclean" hand and kissed it in leather, still smelling his fair scent beneath. Sephiroth swept her up in his arms and carried her through the dark pines. Aeris tried to tell herself that this couldn't be real and all would fade to summer's dream. If she were lucky then she would wake in her bed, if not, then defiled and torn. Tightening her arms, the Cetra's words tumbled as a way to maintain the veil.

"I've thought of a wonderful name for you."

"What name is that, Aeris?"

"Love." She shook her bangs away to see him plain as his lips split in slightest part. Eyes half shadowed could not contain light as they sealed only for her kiss. "You're my general," she told him laying a hand to his cheek. "Even if I don't always obey your commands." He cradled her briefly in one arm to cover those fragile fingers.

"You're not mine to command. You're mine to protect, but which one am I then?" He tilted his head. "Love or general?"

"I think," she said, "you'll have to be both. Can I call you that?" Aeris became aware of her daring. "You always seemed to hate it before."

Sephiroth wrapped her in both arms again, and the flower girl quelled her tears. They would freeze to her face like drops of pure joy and only cause him more worry. "What have I told you, my little flower? You may call me whatever you wish. My truncated name, my once designation…or love, which is best of them all." He whispered the last in his own disbelief and lowered his shimmering eyes.

"There's also 'hero.' Let's not forget that."

"All these names…pulled from the past, lost in my heinous deeds." He pressed his head against her brow. "And you alone can revive them and make them more than what they were. Though..." He couldn't help the smile as Aeris beamed through his words. "Now you have more names for me than I do for you."

She blushed as he carried her through the black woods, his boots as silent as new snow. The trees were grown thick and the lights from above could not pierce that darkness veil, but that didn't matter for he made his own, and no shade could best that gleam. She laid her face against his neck where silver hair swam with sweet scent.

"How did you find me, Aeris?"

"I always know where you are." Her little voice was quiet so close to his ear, but he'd have heard it between the worlds.

"Do you really, little one?"

"Mmhm," she said shutting her eyes and thanking the Planet for this grace. It chided her gently for being so silly, before starting the symphony just once more. "My dear friend, who won't stop rejoicing, tells me so." She turned so she could see him. "You kind of…took my heart, and I need to keep tabs on that."

Beneath his armor she felt him wince as he jerked his face away. "I don't understand how you bear my touch. I should…leave you in the Whispers."

"I'd just follow you again." It was said as one would simply utter, "The moon's out," or, "The wind is blowing."

He shook his head at his small, stubborn rose. "You would, wouldn't you, my precious flower. As much as I want you to keep you safe, I can't help but love you for that. How could I leave you…knowing you'd follow and put yourself in danger's way?" Torture turned his head again, and he hid something behind his lids. Aeris stretched up to kiss his cheek, and Sephiroth could not resist. He caught her lips to let their tongues dance slow and deep with the wildest wish. He wanted her bare and breathless and willing as unworthiness shredded his soul. Her soft teeth to his lip did stir up a chuckle, as he held her close to the flower girl's sigh.

"There's only one way for us to return…"

She knew it so hid her face. His arms tightened around her so carefully in attempt to contain her quake, but he was afraid to crush her too close and hurt his little flower. _It's the only thing I fear in this world. Harm coming to this precious rose. I'll do anything. I'll face any horror…_

"It'll find me…"

And that was the worst. "No it won't, Aeris. I'll never allow that filth to ever touch you." The hands clasped at his neck brought him deepest shame for _he _was also that filth, but she didn't see that for the trust on her face could shatter the bonds of despair. If they hadn't been here in darkness and cold, Sephiroth would've sunk to his knees. Instead he shook his hair away so it caressed her skin. Wearing the general's face for a mask, he said, "I'm going to move very swiftly. If you wish to see, you mustn't blink."

She did quite quickly several times and shuddered in his arms. "I never want to see the in between again. I'm just going to shut my eyes."

"But little one, we're already here…"

And when Aeris looked up she was home. Starlight spilled through her bay window and the sea welcomed her back like a friend. The tiniest gasp escaped her lips, as her protector wore a smile. She kissed him drinking vanilla and warmth as moonlight swept over her cheeks.

"I kept my promise," he murmured against.

"You've kept them all." She held his face. "Every single one you've kept for me and even some you didn't make. Now you tell me true. Why were you in the forest? You said you were going to Winterborough."

"I did go there, Aeris," he admitted, "but…something called me to the woods."

"Something…called you?" She stiffened in his arms and despair pealed the mask from Sephiroth's flawless face.

"Where else to bury what is forgotten than a village made of bones…" He bowed his head. "If only it was." Lifting full eyes that both pierced her soul and apologized for the pain. "I never dreamed of beauty or hope, but I did dream of you. I'd given up on that mercy and didn't dare sleep, but you found me anyway. Before waking eyes in the midst of storm, I saw as you wandered alone. At first I thought it was my lonely mind creating your image out of snowdrops, but then I heard you call my name, and knew where I had to go."

She pressed her cheek to his in utter elation, as Sephiroth half-blinked in surprise. "The Planet told me to go to you and showed me where you could be found! I think," she whispered to bare contained joy, "I think it wants us to be together…for you to be happy at last."

He lowered his head and she laid a palm to the pain written on his face. "You know I broke a promise to you…a vow made while you slept."

"What promise was that?" She still held her smile as though indulging perpetual grief.

"To never leave you, Aeris, to never leave you alone."

She frowned. "You said you'd leave me someplace safe, and that's exactly what you did. When did you make this other promise?"

"When you were most vulnerable that stormy eve in nightmare's bitter grasp." His eyes lit her face. "What kind of protector am I, little one, to break such a promise as that? I have nothing else besides that vow, no other purpose in this world."

She laid her head to armored shoulder, tangling fingers in silver hair. Breathing his scent brought long held tears that this truth would turn to dream, and beneath it, she feared his words unspoken would bury him in mourning.

"I never thought I'd see you again…"

"And that brings you highest grief." Sephiroth tried to fathom from her face what he couldn't delve in to see. "I don't understand it, Aeris, this joy you find in me."

She took his rue with her lips to his for no one need bear such burden. It was the only way for the maid to convey what lay deep in her soul.

He'd kept his eyes closed still after their embrace and her breath stirred those glorious lashes. The darkness of the in between still clung to his leather coat, as did the memory of swiping claws. They'd missed because he'd been too swift, but the monster had gone straight for her. He couldn't full manipulate for like was like, but his will still bested the beast. _It _wanted her. _It _wanted her badly and was enraged that he would not obey. He'd heard the horror calling his name the moment he'd left Aeris's presence, but he had no hatred left for it to latch onto his soul.

_You have no power over me. I have nothing left but grief, and I'm not your son you foul get of the darkness. The rage I now bear is for her._

"I'll never let anything hurt you, Aeris, and I'll never leave you again."

* * *

_Author's Note: __The sweetest reunion...but I have a few caveats. I apologize for being lazy in putting Aeris into the same situation she came up against in the first chapter. I've been thinking a lot about that particular rhetoric since that one particular Game of Thrones episode that created the Sansa Situation, which I discuss extensively on my personal blog if you're interested. I don't want to use that particular thing willy-nilly, but (unfortunately) in reality it _is _a situation that far too many women come across. I hope you can forgive me for resorting to it once more. I needed to put our heroine into peril, though of course by doing so, I create a situation for which she "needs" to be rescued *sigh* I'm trying to look at it from the point of view that Seph will always protect her, but I can't help but feel like a bad feminist._

_The other potential issue is (hopefully) more forgivable. Aeris states near the end of the chapter that she's "never killed anyone before." I...can see this being realistic as she is more of the party's healer and her actions mostly centered on that and support, I hope you'll indulge me in this supposition._

_Now that my apologies are ended the next chapter is titled _**_With Love Upon Your Name _**_and it will be posted July 24._

_Again and again I thank you all for your comments, favorites, and follows!_


	19. With Love Upon Your Name

"**I love her not for the way she danced with my angels,  
but for the way the sound of her name could silence my demons."**

"**We are all damaged, but because of her, I am beautifully sewn."  
-Christopher Poindexter**

**Chapter 19  
With Love Upon Your Name**

Sephiroth put her down though he could hold her forever, nor was Aeris averse to that plan. It was quite late and the Whispers soft slept, but the Cetra was buzzing with energy. She clasped his gloved hands before going upstairs to shower and change her clothes. The forest, her attackers, the cold, and the all fear soon gurgled down the drain. She did catch of whiff of stray soft vanilla, sad to lose that to base shampoo. _But he's here now. He brought me back and promised never to leave me again. _The thought was naughty that had her biting her lip as her hands worked through the tangles.

Aeris didn't know why she put on that dress, white and blue as a winter's day. The same one she'd worn in the Whispers that had made his eyes smolder hot jade. She had a blue ribbon to tie up her tresses in a high braid on her head. The clock on the stand flashed near ten, and Aeris blushed as she stared in the mirror. It seemed a strange time to prepare for a date. _Oh dear gods, is _that_ what I'm doing? To go downstairs and see my general, so beautiful, sad, and pale. _The thought of him biding by the window brought the maid a smile. He'd have his hands behind his back, Mako eyes piercing the sea. Her heart fell then at this inner image for he'd been like that on the last day.

She didn't wear shoes. There was no need as she slipped down the stairs. Her general was just as she'd pictured facing the waves, his silver locks mocking the foam. It looked so much paler against his black coat as she couldn't help running to him. He never moved until the last moment when her hand nearly brushed his hair. Whirling about Sephiroth swept her up high as the flower girl's gasp changed to laughter. It was so incongruent, her mirth in his grip, and he could only stare up for long moments.

"Um, Seph?" Aeris giggled, wriggling a bit as she clutched at his strong hands. The gloves were now gone and she was delighted at the smooth skin beneath her palms. He was far too careful to ever hurt her, but she wanted to be in his arms. Slowly Sephiroth brought her down to hold where his skin did bare. She glided her hands along his wide shoulders since the armor had been removed. Beneath was still as firm as stone cloaked in leather black. He buried his face into chestnut hair that held her soft summer scent, while Aeris shut her eyes lulled by a rhythm that took strength from its pain.

"I've never heard your heart so sad…did you find what you were seeking?"

He lifted his face to the silent sea, light bleeding like tears unshed. Aeris wet her lips, but let the words linger as he pushed open the window pane. Setting her down in moon against foam before sinking to his knees. The Great General laid his head on her lap, and Aeris stroked his silver hair. She had no idea what to expect, as her fingers slid through silk. The light was bare hidden behind his thin lids and wove between his lashes. Night winds blew her soft bangs forward so chestnut and pale did meld.

"I walked the length of a myriad crypts, but never found her bones. I brushed the snow from a hundred graves, but didn't find her there. I've read a thousand forgotten names, but no one remembers hers. I can't even find her to beg for forgiveness. I'm a failure as a son."

Her ragged breath drowned out the sea as small fingers clenched in white. "I've never heard someone speak such sorrow and yet not shed a tear."

"I had a tear, my little rose…and I shed it for you." He lifted his head, but only light lived in endless emerald eyes. Aeris pushed his bangs away so they flowed with silver spill.

"You're not a failure because you can't find a truth you never knew."

"I remember your words like yesterday, Aeris, 'She couldn't take the pain.' She fled chased by memories and died to escape from me."

She slapped him swift across the face then covered hers in horror. Sephiroth could only stare in silence, awestruck by the blow. The flower girl threw her arms around his neck, sobbing over and over, "I'm sorry!"

The sorries broke through frozen surprise then he murmured his litany, "Never apologize," while wrapping her in his arms.

"I have to." She pulled back and caressed his face where no mark would ever show. "I know what you've suffered and what you've endure. I'm so sorry that I hit you. You don't deserve to be struck especially not after-"

"It's alright, Aeris." He gently laughed and took the flower girl's fragile fingers.

"But it's not," she insisted, curling them tight. "I…didn't hurt you, did I, Seph?"

"No, little one, not in the least." He lowered his lips to her hand. "If that was all I had to endure, I'd welcome it every day." Her soft palm smelled like waving grass as he rubbed it with his thumb. "You only did it to stop the harsh words I only have for myself."

"Well I don't believe them," Aeris declared and Sephiroth smiled at her defiance. "I shouldn't have hit you…you'd never hit me. So much for my vow of nonviolence…"

"Little flower…" His whisper was near lost. "_Never_ entertain such a thought. Me striking you would be abysmal and shameful, an utter abuse of my strength. You hitting me doesn't matter."

"It most certainly does matter!" The Cetra pursed her lips as she glared up, free hand stuck to her hip. He leaned forward then to kiss her brow, laughing behind the press.

"My sweet, little rose, after all I've done to you, you're worried about my pain."

"A tenth of your pain would keep me up tortured through the night." She took his other hand, as the general bowed his head. "You can't make peace with the past, Sephiroth, by chasing yesterday."

"There will be no peace, just endless torment of what I cannot find."

"I just can't believe it was all for nothing. Haven't you endured enough lies?"

He lifted his lips without any mirth, shaking his head in silver cascade. "The northern lights go a very long way, and I didn't search all beneath, but I must abandon that quest for now for there is something far worse."

A halting breeze chilled the skin of her back as Aeris squeezed his hands. "What do you mean? What did you find?" His eyes lifted to roiling Mako. They said it all without a word and the Cetra quaked where she sat.

"Why does it want you, Aeris?" He pulled her into his warmth. Despite the horror dredged up from the past, she still felt utterly safe. _That makes no sense, _one part of her thought, _he was that horror once. He carries it still in his very cells, and yet I'm not afraid._

"It wants me for my Ancient blood, because only I can stop it. You know it drove my people mad…"

"You never have to face it again. I know where the horror lurks…"

They said together in one voice. "Midgar."

"I'm coming with you." She sat back up and her tone rang with determination. "Defeat the false then find the true." The tremor shook her to the bone.

Sephiroth clasped both her hands and held them on her lap. "I have no hatred left, little one, for it to claim my soul. Don't be afraid…" He hung his head. "Its words are like dust to the dead." She called his name and the general looked up to the only summons he'd ever answer. Her summer eyes wore tears like dew, and he leaned to kiss their corners. "You gave up your friends. You lost your future all because of me. I won't have you sacrifice anything else. You've done more than enough for ten lives."

Aeris stared straight to the heart of those slivers. "Between my shoulder blades," she began, "is the memory that lives in my bones. You can't defeat this by yourself. You can't let it consume you again. Though it would be grief rather than hate, I can't let you face it alone. Promise you'll let me help you." She gripped his hands tight, making her fragile wrists ache. "Swear it by the blood I shed…"

His blood in the steel her blood on the blade pierced the general's broken heart, and Aeris threaded their fingers together, but didn't regret the invoked vow.

"I swear to you, Aeris." He bowed his head. "And I'll always keep you safe. You protect the Planet, and I protect you."

He stood and the flower girl lifted her head. In moonlight he shone like a pearl among stones, and Aeris followed him to her feet. Sephiroth cloaked her in his embrace, and joy pierced the rents in his soul. Looking down at her so silver bangs tumbled and she twisted strands around a small finger.

"You were right about my heart, little one…it's as broken and dark as the space between the stars. Nothing but love can fill that emptiness. Hate only makes it worse."

He tilted her chin to take the kiss she always held for him, white against black, silver on shadow, as moonlight bathed them both.

"I didn't have the right to leave you, Aeris, when you wanted me to stay."

"I didn't have the right to make you stay and never find your heart's desire."

He carefully squeezed her little waist. "My heart's desire is in my arms, what I seek is my soul's obligation." Emerald drifted north though the call was slight hushed as the Great General sighed. "I don't deserve the former and I can't find the latter."

"You're right," Aeris agreed, "you deserve so much more." She stared up at him in adoration and sniffed to keep the tears in. Blinking, the flower girl tilted her head to Sephiroth's small amusement. Sniffing again she turned in his arms. "Oh, what's that lovely smell?"

"Could it be me, little flower?" He raised an arched brow, grinning down at the top of her head.

"Well that scent I know, but this one is different." It wasn't until it tingled her nostrils that Aeris realized how famished she was.

She bent over slightly to take a full sniff as Sephiroth slowly exhaled. Her white dress clung to every curve so emphasized by her posture. He threaded his fingers around her small waist just inches above spreading hips. His hair trickled down, brushing her breasts, and her lips pinkened in Mako light. A length of steel ever weeping blood thrust through lustful thoughts, and his hands fell into clenched fists. _I truly am a monster…murdering, rapist filth._

"After your quest," he said evenly though the words broke against his teeth. "I thought you'd be hungry though there wasn't much here I could make."

She peered back and grinned up in utter gratitude.

"It's only toast and soup and that from a can. How long were you gone, little one?"

"Only a night, but I planned for more so I didn't bother to go shopping. I was very lucky…" Her voice turned to whisper as Aeris faced him again.

"How so?" Sephiroth blinked, his gaze darting back up.

"Well…" The smallest of grins graced her lips. "I found you so quickly. I thought it would take at least a week."

"A week for what, Aeris?"

"To find where you were!" Laughter spilled out like summer storm as she took his hand. "I've never seen you so distracted. Whatever are you thinking about?"

He wrenched his gaze towards the table before letting her lead him there. "Only your beauty." It wasn't a lie. _And how I want you so._

He expected her to sit across from him, but she climbed in the chair right beside. Dipping the toast in still hot soup as she swirled her tea to cool. Aeris leaned against his arm, shutting her eyes to leather so smooth. Her dear friend laughed and played chords unheard by any human ears.

"For someone who doesn't eat very often." She glanced up. "You can certainly season well. I've made this type of soup before and it never tasted half so good."

"I do have a very good sense of smell." He sharpened his eyes on a cabinet door, but when her soft hand slipped over his, Sephiroth had to turn. She was still just as beautiful, still out of his reach, and still whom he wanted most. _You're worse than the darkness that gnaws at the world with intentions far more base. You're raping her in your mind, and worse than that you imagine her willing, as if that could ever be. She'd fight and struggle, cry and bleed, bleed like she did before…_

"Seph?"

"Yes, little one?"

The Cetra wiggled closer melding herself against his arm. Sephiroth slowly slipped it around so her pale cheek contrasted his coat.

"Nothing. I just…love saying your name and knowing you're here to answer. I really am completely safe all because of you…"

The general curled his fingers on her belly as the light seared past his lashes. _Safe…you trust me more than I trust myself. This…smoke dream of intimacy. I want you more than godhood, my flower…more than I wanted to kill. _"Aeris," he breathed lowering his face to linger over the top of her head. "You're the most precious vision in the cursed light of my eyes." He wanted to bury himself as deep as he could in that sweet, summer scent. _Deeper than the slide of flawless steel? _The Great General hid his cringe. _No, not that, not ever that, but both are perversions, you monster. You don't deserve to exist in her sight, _was the thought as she lifted her gaze.

He saw her intention before she even knew. "Aeris, no, you shouldn't—" But it was too late and the maid was sitting on his lap. Sephiroth kissed her before any more words were free and it was hard and deep and claiming. She squirmed where she sat as he clasped her wrists, and the general murmured, "Mercy…" He sealed his lids but still envisioned her lips blushing deepest pink, and her hand trailed from his cheek and jaw as he sat up straight again. "I'm so sorry, little rose," he whispered. "I'm so very sorry."

"What are you apologizing for now?" Her dress was rumpled above her knees, a careless placed hand had found that. He opened his eyes and Aeris full shone in unleashed jade burning down.

"I…shouldn't look at you like this, Aeris. It shouldn't be allowed."

"Why shouldn't you?" She took a sip of tea and it left dew on her lips.

"Because…it's a perversion."

"Why would you ever think such a thing? What's perverse about this?" A tiny finger twisted around one bang as another traced the straps on his chest.

"Aeris, I want—" He turned away so lustful light fell on shadow.

"You want what?" she whispered before biting her lip so rouge bloomed against her teeth.

"It doesn't matter, little flower."

"It matters a great deal to me."

Looking at her was the biggest mistake augmenting her warmth on his lap. Her white dress embellished in blue and the bright ribbon in her hair. The barest of touches would release her tresses, less than a word would lay her bare. He clasped his hands at her soft belly to keep them from doing more. "What I want from you…" Silver shimmered down. "Can only be considered…one thing."

The smallest noise escaped from her throat as horror froze Aeris's skin. Sephiroth unlaced his hands around, but she grabbed them to thread their fingers.

"Is _that _what you think?" the flower girl asked so hushed the sea could've stolen her words. "Is that what you think you'd be doing?"

He bowed his head and she shut her eyes to silk that mocked the moonlight. "What else could it be? What else am I? There's no way that you would consent."

"Are you implying that I don't know what I want?"

Emerald flashed as Sephiroth opened his eyes to her glaring up through the light. The teasing apparent took some of the sting, but didn't diminish the force.

"No…not at all. It's just that the past-"

"Has no hold over me. What makes you think I don't want you, too?"

The general pushed moonlight hair aside so it tumbled over her, and Aeris shifted herself never moving her gaze as he concentrated on clenching his fist.

"You're the gentlest man to ever touch me in this life or the last. You're always so careful, always so worried that you'll misuse your strength." She smiled and laid a soft palm to his cheek where he covered it veiling his eyes. "And you're beautiful. No…you're more than that. They haven't made a word for what you are. I could never forget what you look like yet every time I see you I'm stunned. You're lovely, gorgeous, beyond perfection, a winter angel full of grace."

Sephiroth almost laughed. It was that sad how she saw him through innocent eyes. The little fingers curled against his cheek beneath his larger hand. He had never held anything so tiny and soft as this flower in his arms.

"You're calling me better than what I am, a man and not a monster."

"You're _not _a monster," she vehemently said, locking her fingers in his. "What have you done _in this life _to warrant such a horrible name?"

Silence held his tongue again as jade spilled from his eyes. Aeris looked beyond the mask and squeezed their entwined hands.

"The very first time that we met again, Sephiroth, you killed to save my life. Then carried me home and made me a promise you immediately worked to keep. In the wake of that time I…fell in love with the ache of your broken heart, and when you left me…" tears escaped summer storm "…I thought I'd never see light the same. Do you know how stale the sea air smelled without your angel's scent? The starlight on foam only amazed me in remembering silver hair. The very Planet refused to speak to me until it told me to go find you."

His lips had parted in her fervor's midst, but there were no words to say. The world, the very world she loved, had denied its dear child its voice. She'd been alone, alone in silence despite the fact that she lived in the sun.

"And you can't be a rapist if I'm willing, and I am, Sephiroth…"

"What if I'm just manipulating you?" he insisted shutting his eyes again.

"We know that doesn't work on me."

"We know I can't make you forget."

"Or see you as anything but what you are so I doubt this manipulation. Besides why would you tell me? Why explain if your intentions were so foul?"

He frowned below now half-veiled lids scattering the gleam on his lashes.

Aeris sighed, "Well why don't you try to convince me that I _don't _want you?"

The general tilted her chin, clasping her hands and neon joined jade burning bright. Her breath wisped out against her lips to the blank and flawless face. Then she squirmed upon his lap with the tiniest of smiles.

Sephiroth sealed his eyes to her quiet giggle, lashes trembling on his cheeks. "If you keep doing that…" His lips brushed her ear as the whisper was cut on his teeth. "I may just bend you over this table."

She turned for the kiss, and he ate at her mouth as though starving for summer sweet. "I want you, Aeris," he promised between. "More than godhood and glory to have you writhing like that beneath…"

"I think then it's settled…" She clung to his neck.

"But I don't want to hurt you, my flower."

She sighed so heavy feeling the tension that rode his solid shoulders. "Dear gods…are you really this stubborn?" she muttered. "You don't have to be afraid of that."

"There's no fear for myself, only for you. I'm your protector. How dare I do anything that might bring you harm? How dare I…" He shook his head. "…take you for myself?"

"Because if you do, I'll just let you know. I trust you, Sephiroth, more than anything. I trust you as much as the Planet."

Indignant bells rang in jest that turned to joyous song. It crashed through her soul like the beat of his heart, broken and shackled by guilt.

"You…trust me?" He tilted her chin again and laid a kiss so soft to her lips. Opening his eyes, he searched her face unable to bear what beamed from her skin.

"Of course I do! So very much."

He shook his head. This couldn't be real. "The instant I touch you, you'll scream in horror."

"You're touching me right now," she reminded.

"You know what I mean, little flower."

"I do, Sephiroth, and that's utterly false. I'm not going to turn you away."

"But what if I hurt you? What if you tear-" He jerked his head to the side with teeth bared. Agony shut his eyes so hard they ached through the crush of his lids.

"Sephiroth…" Her voice so sweet matched the fingers on his skin, and the Great General relaxed his features, unable to resist her call. Her bangs were framing her soft lit face, which as always was lifted to him. "You are _not _going to hurt me." A long lock of hair had spilled over his chest, and she twisted it amongst the straps. He buried one hand beneath her braid and laid his brow to hers. "This is _not _the same act that brought you pain."

"_My _pain-"

"Hush, let me finish." Amusement battled the heavy guilt to give a slight lift to his lips. "You have to remember I accepted my fate long before it ever did fall, and now look at me." She brushed his temple. "I gave my life to save the Planet, and now I'm wrapped in your arms…"

"Aeris, the mere sight of you is worth every moment of torture…and you want to allow me more than sight when you've already given so much. You let me touch you." A gentle hand caressed her cheek and she curled against his chest. "You allow me this." He kissed her hard, claiming the maid in this act far greater than words. "And now…" His eyes lowered in molten heat. "You say that I can have more." Sephiroth slid his hand slow down her side, a mere gentle brush of her breast. The sliver of pupil shivered in doubt, but what mirrored in jade was pure joy. "You…adore me, and I don't know why. It's beyond my understanding. Why do you love me, Aeris?" He lifted his eyes so desperate for truth for truth had been so long denied. "All that I did-"

"Doesn't matter now." Silver spill covered her fingers, and her smile rivaled his Mako light. "I love the you that is, not that you that was. The past has no hold over me. You're _not _that pawn." She squeezed her eyes shut praying hard that this would pass through her skin. "You're not the fallen. You're my general, my angel, and my love."

Sephiroth cupped her cheek in his hand and took the tears from her eyes with one thumb. All of his fears not to do as they wished were fading from his tongue. She loved him. Beyond any reason he could see, past any doubts he could muster, above any shadow from his past. He smiled and she wriggled delightfully as the general halved his eyes. Their light was cut against his lashes as he tipped her face up for a kiss. Sephiroth rose to his feet as their tongues kept the dance, cradling Aeris in one arm. He gestured with the other and the lights went dark, but he needed neither that nor open eyes to find his way. Against her cheek his palm spread wide, warmer than sunlight at noon.

She barely even realized that they were upstairs for his step had been smooth as new ice.

"I didn't think someone with only one wing could fly so very fast." It was breathed against his lips, and his chuckle sent a thrill through her skin.

"I might've been wrong about you, little flower. You're not very kind at all…"

The bed had been made just as she'd left it, the balcony shut, the drapes drawn tight. He sat her on the edge and went down on one knee to worship her with his gaze. Encasing her hands, the general still fought to believe she was truly his. Bathed in deep emerald, she shone like a sky graced in sun and moon and star. "Will you," she whispered, "will you turn on the light. I want to be able to see you."

He lifted his hand and the light obeyed to show frost white skin against black. Sitting beside her, Sephiroth gripped the end of Aeris's braid. A high sound escaped the Cetra's throat before it was caught by the kiss from above. He wanted to taste her very moans, as her lips unfolded like petals beneath.

She barely noticed the spill of free chestnut against the back of her dress, but she couldn't ignore the brush of his thumb along her trembling throat. The softest touch that woke melody as it sang along her nerves. Large hands covered her shoulders complete before sliding down her arms, and Aeris traced the leather black, too, smiling at the stark difference in size.

Sephiroth wrapped his arms around her as the flower maid clung to his neck. Washed by silver, her fingers slid through moonlit silk that teased soft skin. He kissed her brow, her cheeks, and her eyes taking the tears before they full formed. Giving up on her quest to best his wide shoulders, Aeris moved down to the clasps of his coat. The buckles were tricky behind sealed lids with a kiss to steal midnight between, and fingers once steady to comfort shy blooms were clumsy on unseen locks. She managed that though despite the distraction, but the straps were beyond her will.

"How do you ever figure this out?" Sweet breath came in blushing huff, and the general cupped the back of her head. Her cheeks were full flushed, but her lips could've shamed the rose that gave hue to the dawn.

"You grow used to it, little flower." He took her small hand and placed it on his chest where his heart so caged did pound. Leading her fingers to the right spots, he watched her face as she undid the straps.

The Cetra grinned up still without any guile, and almost shyly pushed the leather aside. It was quite ungiving and took two hands as he laid kisses on the side of her neck. Wispy hair swam sweet as summer scent bloomed, and he nibbled the skin to her gasp. The arc of her spine paused Aeris's task so low laughter fell from above. He took pity on her and shrugged out of his coat shaking his hair in silver rain. It beat against her cheeks without any violence, as the Cetra slid her palm down his arm. There would never be give to her little hands, but something else caught her eye.

"You still have that?"

Sephiroth peered over. "Of course I do, little flower." The pink scrap of past adorned his white skin, couched in the fold of his bicep. "Do you want it back?" Jade searched her face, joy multiplied in the light.

"No." She laid her palm to the place, blinking up into his eyes. "It's…fitting that you wear it now. Oh!" She jumped slightly and he curled his arm around her lower back. "I just remembered. I have something of yours."

Jade couldn't burn brighter as he watched his flower reach into her breast. From her bosom came the feather so black to mock death's bitter herald, and Sephiroth's eyes froze for he knew where she'd collected that prize.

"Do you…do you want this back?"

"No, Aeris, it's yours. It belongs to you more than anything ever could."

She tossed the pinion and it flew to the nightstand then put his free hand on her breast. He took this gift, laying her down on the pillows and devoured her mouth like sweet rain. They weren't even the wettest petals of all for that he need go lower, searing kisses all the way down. Pink was her color from what he could see, and he wondered what else was so blushed.

"What did I do, little flower," he murmured, "to deserve this trust you have in me?"

"Be who you are," she whispered the words. "Gentle and kind…my great protector."

"I'll always be gentle with you," he promised hands skimming the flare of her skirt.

"You don't have to tell me…" Her eyes squeezed shut so starlight burst behind. She was glad for the pillows, glad for his hair between her tightened fingers, but her breath bare waited in the press of his lips where her dress had once been. "I already know because you always have-"

And then there were no words for a while. She couldn't speak and he was involved in keeping her in that state. Sephiroth was far more worried about fragile fingers than silver hair that wouldn't tear so when she was lost in throes of his act, he gently loosened her little hands and kissed vanilla washed palms. Pressing his teeth to the pulse in her wrist, the general caught her flushed face in his gaze.

"Yes…" she whimpered. "Yes…" Again.

"Is that all you can say now, Aeris?" He smiled and lifted himself above so silver came spilling down.

The flower maid reached through light's waterfall. "I'll always say yes to you…"

Sephiroth's smile then turned to bare awe as her eyes trembled hard not to blink. "Is _this _what you see, little flower?" he whispered. "Is this my true self before?" The back of his hand brushed from temple to chin, and she pushed a pale lock from his face.

"Yes…it's what I've been telling you all along. Your beauty is beyond blinding."

"But…" His pupils slid within her gaze, slicing through the layers of his image to find what he was to her. "I've seen myself before in mirrors. I always knew what I was. But this…this here. I never did dream I could be what now lives in your eyes. Do you really see me this way, Aeris? I'm not a monster at all…" His hand did not tremble through powerful will as he slid it beneath her neck. The tears that now swam distorted no inch of that glorious vision, and Aeris though joyful bore slightest envy that unblinking eyes would miss nothing.

She kissed him deep as deep can go and summer never tasted so sweet. "Do you finally see it now?"

"I see how you see me…that must be the truth because you carry no guile."

Slim as a shiver, soft as a sigh the great emerald eyes pierced her deep. Aeris slid a finger down his face for she held no fear of them now. She no longer had cause to fear the darkness for that gleam would never dim. Sephiroth slipped her white dress down, as she slanted her mouth hard against his. She reached for his belt and he laughed still entwined within the curl of tongue.

"I see you have no trouble with this particular buckle," he said with her lip between his teeth, and the blush that bloomed limned her skin in fire that matched his heat.

He entered his flower exquisitely slow, driving in so gently. Every petal was dripping with dew and only her tightness offered resistance. The heat of his gaze never left her face as he carefully plowed this rose. Aeris clung to his shoulders her head thrown back beneath a rain of moonlight and ash. She bloomed so very slowly around him, stretched taut but willingly opened. Sephiroth's emerald eyes were made for her and held the Cetra's face in their light. Watchful and worried for some sign that pleasure would descend into raw pain, but she could do nothing but unfold beneath as each thrust stole ecstasy's due.

She was so tiny, his most precious flower, and the air that much sweeter because she breathed it in. Her fingers fought valiantly to cling to his neck, but the rhythm stole what strength they had. Her hands fell back against the pillows, and he kissed her to catch every cry. She opened her eyes when his brow locked to hers so Aeris could see as he claimed her. Awe and pride both played together, a strange truce in his flawless face. She stroked the hair that now coated his shoulders, the dichotomy of marble and silk. He shook the strands away from his sight so they swept her breasts and belly. Then took the small palms to kiss every finger before pressing both hands above.

Within her mind the Planet erupted in joy beyond every life. Past, present, future all melded together, but still it could not be contained. The little Cetra knew that ecstasy shimmered within hot Mako light, but it was pure now between emerald and jade, the union of love and devotion. He kissed her hard then watched her close as he drove in even deeper, but his flower's contortions were all of delight and the dew never once diminished. A high, little squeak arched her back, lifting her hips towards him, and Sephiroth found the sweetest plunge had reached her very depths. Aeris forced herself up in soft tremble so her lips brushed against his ear. "You begin now where I end…there's no 'you' and 'me' only 'us.'" Chestnut lay soaked in a skein of sweat like summer drowned in storm. She would've said more, but her voice had new use, and his name shut bright eyes in pure joy.

Above his tight fist her hands shook and clenched, and Sephiroth finally noticed her struggles. She'd been fighting against his iron grip, and he hadn't even noticed. In horror he released her wrists though her hands still quivered above.

"Why'd you let go?" Aeris managed the words for he'd stopped to search for bruises that never would bloom.

"You were struggling, little flower. I…was hurting you."

"No," she insisted, clutching his neck. "No you weren't, not at all." She shifted her hips, flesh still tight around, but he wouldn't continue until he was sure. "What did I tell you before, Sephiroth? I love your absolute strength. I was…testing it," she laughed so soft as he tilted his head bemused.

"Testing it?"

"Just to see if I had any chance, any chance at all. I don't…" The Cetra looked up in awe without fear, biting her lip a deep red. "I was doing everything I could to escape your grasp and you didn't even notice."

"I'm sorry for that."

"There's no need to be sorry." She kissed him so he shut his eyes to her coated in endless light, and when he retook her ever so gently, each thrust brought a squeak. Emerald rained down to matching silver as he held himself above, but skin would always call to skin like summer chased by snow, so Sephiroth wrapped her in his arms to feel her quivering warmth. A slice of ice cut at her ribs, and Aeris turned her head with a gasp. A different silver, cold and grey gleamed around his wrists.

"You're still bound," the flower girl said as he pressed his lips to her brow. That lowered his eyes to what she had named, and regret flew over his face.

"Yes, I am, but it's fine, because I'm bound to you."

"You should be free." She tried to grip one, but it was beyond her hand's span.

"I'll never be that." He cupped her cheek with halved and lowered eyes. Covering the skin he could reach with his lips so she drowned in sweet smelling seas. Aeris couldn't remember the sad distraction as his tongue stole what protests remained. Below she contorted and twisted through light, and he freed her cries for the want of his name. So slowly he drew it out of her 'til she wondered if she knew other words. The slowness he kept while peering down in full and rapt concentration.

Between aftershocks Aeris opened her eyes, and a weak smile covered wet lips. "Is that your general's face?" She grinned so coy before convulsion caught her with a cry. It was hiding in between those slow thrusts, and her mouth worked around too much joy.

His lips lifted up in knowing half smile. "You were saying, little flower?" He gave her some moments, but there was no chance the Cetra could respond. "Ah, that's what I thought." His face turned quite wicked, and long lashes shadowed cheeks that mocked palest frost.

"I was wrong…" she said in words chased by breath, "when I said you were completely good. That was…positively wicked."

"And you liked it?"

"I loved it."

"That is sweet relief." The kiss proved his words to be true. "I never believed you could be for me, Aeris."

"Well I wanted to be so I am."

The blink was so quick she almost missed it, but for brief second the sorrow was cleaned.

He had known many battles and countless conquests though he dwelled in the shadow of grief, but this, oh sweet this, was the easiest victory Sephiroth had ever achieved. It hadn't been taken. It hadn't been won. It had been utterly given.

"The greatest of generals you certainly are…" Aeris ran the back of one hand down his face before brought into one final shudder.

She fell asleep against his chest as he whispered love upon her name. The Cetra would've answered, but he held her tighter, and she was far too happy in that to speak. The evening was older, dying in light, and he kissed her brow at the moment of slumber. Then silenced the lights as the darkness rose up to drag him into hell. He dared to sleep. He dared to dream, and the scratching stole that night's joy. It breached the strength of innocent touch to tear through his haunted mind, and the blood he could see so hot in his lids limned the sword that now grew through her chest.

* * *

_Author's Note: __I had to go with the two Christopher Poindexter quotes, because I could not decide between them; they were both so perfect. If I _had _to choose, it would've been the second one, the "beautifully sewn." _

_The next chapter **Rising Shadow **will be post next Friday July 31. _

_Thank you so much for reading, following, and favoriting!  
_


	20. Rising Shadow

"**So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,  
Farewell remorse; all good to me is lost…"  
-John Milton "Paradise Lost"**

**Chapter 20  
Rising Shadow**

The sun was far higher than Aeris was used to and the Planet laughed below. It was the tiniest seam between the curtains that let the light find her eyes. Her bed was empty, but memory remained and as usually he'd wrapped her in blankets. The flower girl yawned and slowly sat up, chestnut locks falling around. She gave a little gasp while clearing her hair, not expecting to be so sore, but bit back the smile on her lips for _that_ hadn'tbeen a dream.

Rubbing her eyes, she peered to her nightstand to see rising wisps of steam. A cup of tea rested there, perfectly warm to her clasping hands. _How does he always know? _she wondered as earl grey eased her tongue. The covers slipped down to bare a pale shoulder as the flower girl smelled something else. Decidedly breakfast had crept up the stairs, items she did not have. The mystery was almost as sweet as her drink, but her mind fluttered to other things. Looking down she found her castaway clothes and the blue ribbon tumbled upon. The dress was slipped over with bow tied tight when the Planet said she should look up.

A shiver danced along Aeris's skin at the sight of emerald and pale. He was garbed in all black as per his normal with the pauldrons still gone. Silver swept over down to his knees, and the high bangs framed his face. Aeris stood, running straight into his arms to Sephiroth's still sweet surprise.

"Awake now at last, my little flower?" he chuckled, easily sweeping her up. Her skin like fresh cream and that dress oh so white melded against leather black. He was holding her high with only one arm so reached up to find her lips. Aeris cupped his face in her small palms, as he covered half of hers with his one. Sephiroth carried her back to the rumpled bed, setting her down as he sank to his knees.

"What time is it?" Aeris asked while clutching the hands on her thighs.

"After one." The general kissed her brow shaking stray strands from his face.

"Oh gods," she gasped, glancing toward the window. "Did I really sleep that long?"

"Well…" He couldn't hide the smile like a cat in the cream. "You did have quite a long night."

Aeris covered her face to hide the blush, and Sephiroth was instantly shamed.

"I'm sorry, little flower." But she shook her head, and then he heard the titter behind. Ever so gently he opened her hands to confirm it was mirth not chagrin.

She breathed in deeply before the long sigh, filling nostrils with savory scent. "What's that smell from downstairs?"

"I made you breakfast."

"Are you real? Do you truly exist?"

He tilted his head, lids halved to emerald gleam. "I believe I am and do. If this is the dream, I pray my nightmares are less than scattered dust…" She saw only an instant of what he had suffered after the night before.

"You're wonderful…you know that?" She touched his cheek, and he laid his hand over this gift.

"I'm your protector, little one, tasked to ensure that you're safe."

The flower girl giggled. "I didn't realize making me breakfast was a matter of life or death."

"I owe you happiness, Aeris," he solemnly said. "It's the least that I can do."

"It's beneath you," she told him, "and so is this. This…kneeling at my feet. I'm no one to worship. I'm just me-"

"The Planet's blesséd daughter." He took the hand that graced his cheek and kissed her tender palm. "And beneath me, little one?" His face was so sad, she did question the prior night. "I tried to destroy this world you love. What else could lie below?"

Another shiver rode her skin, more frigid than the first. "I..I didn't have very much in my pantry. Wh-What did you find to make?"

Sephiroth smiled, but she saw beyond that it didn't reach his eyes. "You had nothing at all for breakfast so I had to go to the store."

"Wait. You went grocery shopping?"

"Yes."

"Dressed…like that."

"Yes. Why?"

She laughed aloud to his raised brow and then kissed him like the sky would fall. The general stood as their tongues converged, tilting her chin to uphold the dance. He sat down beside her on the bed to taste the tea and dew far sweeter. Clasping the back of her neck with one hand before sliding it under her braid. His other sought her minute fingers as she threaded them all within his. _Dear gods, _he thought, _I want to plow this little flower until all our tomorrows are spent… _Even with last night he still felt ashamed, parting from her lips with a sigh. The Cetra looked up from behind a blind smile, squeezing her hands within his.

"What gives you such mirth, Aeris?" he asked and that phrasing, too, caused such innocent laughter.

She opened her eyes and beamed up to see him now sitting by her side. "It's just…" Her checks pinkened. "It's just hard to imagine you doing something so mundane."

"I did it before."

"I know you did." She reached for her tea, and Sephiroth handed her the mug. "Thank you." It was still good though cooling as she took a taste then offered some to him. He wouldn't refuse her to have a small sip, placing the cup back in her hands. "I just…never thought about it." A bang fell across her face, and the flower girl blew it aside. With a half smile, Sephiroth tucked the errant strand behind one of her ears. She lifted the cup so big in her grasp, to finish the rest of the brew. "We can be, you know." It was so soft no regular ears could've heard.

"Can be what?" He relieved her of the mug to set it on the stand.

"Like this…sipping tea, speaking of nothing, living in the light. A-After it's done." She shuddered, and the crack in the curtains seemed to close tighter in. "After we've found it, we could come back here and be like this."

"You mean," he said slowly, "we could be normal." Sephiroth envisioned them holding hand to hand beneath a sky that rained white flowers. Past the walls, beyond the seas to a land he never dreamed could be, but darkness was rising, creeping over the sky, rendering cracks in his foolish façade.

"Well…" A tiny finger twisted a strand of moonlight. "The last scion of the Ancients and the Great General Sephiroth could hardly be considered 'normal.'" She laughed while leaning forward to lay a palm on his cheek. "But we could be together, and you could be happy at last."

Sephiroth took both of her hands and kissed them soft, closing his eyes to this lovelier dream. _Please let me keep it. I have darkness enough, and that is what we soon go to face. _

"You truly want me to live here…with you in this paradise?"

"Yes…" Her voice cracked to the pain that his wouldn't. "I want that more than anything."

"And that will make you happy?" He couldn't believe it, as memory mocked his grief.

"There isn't a word for what that will make me, not in one or a thousand tongues. What better reward for a redeemed angel?"

"I'm not redeemed, Aeris. I'm ever fallen."

"Forgiveness can right that wrong."

He stood with the Cetra in his arms embraced full in her mercy. It was as though she'd been shaped to fit there as he was made to dwell in such grace. "You should eat breakfast, little flower," he said, carrying her towards the door, "before it grows too cold." She nodded then forgot as he kissed her deep stealing the breath of her words. She answered him full with a song through her lips as she clung to his leather clad shoulders. The wall by the doorway was cool on her back, but it warmed quicker than memory could. He wanted her in that instant, in that very now wanted cream skin to blush against frost.

"May I, Aeris? May I have you again?" he whispered and she pulled back.

"What did I tell you? I'll never say no."

"I'll still always ask, little flower."

"Every time?"

"Yes, every time. I won't take you without your permission."

"What if I said I'd never deny you? Your desire matches my own."

"What if you were tired or sore or annoyed? I'll still always ask…"

Aeris kissed him before she gave too much away, and his hands rode down her sides. The smooth summer dress had been made for such touch and revealed a truth that caused him to smile. It was sweetly illicit to see her full covered, but know that beneath she was bare. Parting her lips with a thrust of his tongue, Sephiroth drowned in summer's heat. Aeris's arms tangled around his neck as he slid a palm between her thighs. Within the kiss the flower girl gasped, fingers curved as her back towards him. She clung to the marble beneath leather black, looking up with waiting eyes. Tossed silver, half smile, and deft hidden fingers found the barriers that stood in their way.

Ever so careful he penetrated those petals as the white dress spilled around. Holding her wrists in a gentle vice, Sephiroth slowly spread every fold. His unblinking gaze marked each reaction to the flawless slide in and out. Never could the general have dreamed how utterly willing she'd be. Her throat was exposed so he covered her pulse with his mouth and a bare hint of teeth. It fluttered against as it hummed in his ears, and he peered up with a low, knowing chuckle. His flower below was softer than silk, more delicate than lace, and Sephiroth leaned forward, his brow to hers unbelieving her utter joy. He was ever watchful, ever careful not to plow too deep, but each thrust declared the undeniable truth, "You belong to me."

Aeris looked up through the radiant fall of Mako light on her face. Her voice finally failed her. She was quivering weak from being so brought, and her lips shaped his name in their silence. He drove his tongue into her deep in mimicry of below, switching the rhythm, upping the tempo so the Cetra didn't know what to expect.

"Can I…" she forced out, "can I have…my hands…my hands back…please?"

"Of course, little flower." It was instant release, and, "I'm so very sorry."

"Don't be…" A damp palm slid down his cheek. "You know I love your strength, but I want your hair between my fingers."

He shook it so it shimmered upon her skin, and Aeris saw nothing but light. Against her face the strands gleamed in jade, but the moonlight was still unstolen. A sudden sharp thrust contorted her features with a tiny, whimpering cry. The general froze and pressed their brows to a chorus of heart rent apologies. Shaking his head, he clutched her small shoulders and squeezed his eyes until light burst.

"It's alright," she told him.

"No, Aeris, it's not…I hurt you, little rose." He turned away as she kissed his temple.

"And then you instantly stopped."

"You cried out in pain."

"One cry of pain in a sea of joy. I think, my love, it's worth it." Tiny fingers trickled down his cheek and the general faced his fear. She was smiling and flushed with pleasure in pink, rouged cheeks and stolen rose lips. "Just because it might hurt doesn't mean it isn't worth it." She shifted her hips beneath the white dress.

Sephiroth squeezed a fist to the wall to reenter his little flower. Ever so slowly he pushed through her tautness, watching each nuance of joy. Then shut his eyes to the beat of his lashes and the light that bled through thin lids. The softest petals and most tender folds opened only for him.

"I belong to you, my general," she whispered. "I'm yours and yours alone." She slanted her mouth against his, tying the promise between their tongues.

"You are, little flower," he answered between kisses, within the depth of each thrust. "But how is this possible? How can such a thing be?"

"It is because I wish it." Her hand shook on his cheek. "I am forever yours."

Sephiroth captured both her wrists and pinned them above her head. Jaded eyes seared her upturned face as swifter thrusts made her writhe. She asked for her hands, and he let her go to slip slim arms around his neck. Aeris was splayed on the wall of his shoulders as he plunged so deep and slow. The skirt of her dress hid sight of their union, but it couldn't conceal her reaction. Sephiroth half smiled, as she parted her lips like the petals spread wide below.

"You wish to tell me something, Aeris?"

She tried, but the Planet just laughed in her heart undisturbed by its frantic thrum.

"What was that?" he gently taunted. "I apologize. You'll have to say it louder. There are some things even I can't hear."

She wanted to glare, but ecstasy caught her so she only managed his name.

"Hm, is that so? Quite interesting. You're calling me, but I'm already here." He tilted his head as she made a fist on his shoulder. The other hand he caught to thread their fingers, which she squeezed with all her might. The general chuckled. "It ismy _full_ name, and not the truncation. Is that what you mean, little rose?" He went slower and deeper like richest, smooth honey so Aeris bloomed fold by fold. It took her before she realized it would, but he knew and so cradled her head. She buried her fingers in his pale hair as the spasms arched her spine. Sephiroth laughed so low. "So that _is _what you wanted." He kissed her brow. "Are you satisfied for now?" But Aeris only fell against his shoulder, aftershocks stealing her speech. She clung there as his final full thrusts laid his brow to hers. Smiling beneath his sudden shut eyes before lifting the Cetra up. He re-buttoned his pants and re-clasped his belt as he murmured, "My sweet, little flower."

Her eyes were shut to shivering skin and soreness that still pulsed threaded her fingers through silver hair though they twitched in the aftermath. His step was so smooth, Aeris barely noticed him carrying her downstairs, but when he set her down on the cushioned chair, she clung to his neck in a sudden fear.

"I'm not going to leave you, Aeris," he promised. "I'm right here by your side." She relinquished her hold to clutch his hands with their marvelous strength unmatched. Looking up and up until her neck hurt, and she bit her well used lips.

"I love your height. I love your strength. I love your beauty so."

Sephiroth shook his head and crouched, but the smile lit lovely his face. "Which do you love most, Aeris?"

"Your gentleness above all."

The laughter brought rue to flawless features. "That isn't the trait for which I'm well known. Killing is why I was made."

"Killing is not all you're good for. Believe me, Sephiroth, I know…" She squeezed his hands hard, as he kissed her brow. "I'm glad that I can't hurt you." The words were half thought. "I'd be constantly crushing your fingers."

"You could very easily hurt me, Aeris." He thumbed a wisp of her tousled hair.

"How so?"

"Do you forgive me?"

"Yes with all of my heart."

"Do you love me?"

"With that and my soul." Tears welled like a meadow in rain.

He kissed her softly seeing her shaded in light behind his lids. "I'd be nothing without that, Aeris," he told her. "Less than a dream of the dark."

"Which is better forgiveness or love?"

"I believe they are one and the same. You couldn't love me if you didn't forgive me."

"W-Well what do you love most about me?" She wiped her tears and he then kissed her hand.

"There's nothing I don't. There's nothing I can't. You fill all the dark spaces inside. You fashioned love into a blade and with it pierced my heart…"

She forced her sobs down, leaning forward to press her lips to his again. Sephiroth stood, still holding the moment until his very height made them part. He pushed in her chair, and it was then Aeris noticed the table was set. He'd made her more tea and eggs with thyme, and there was bacon, too.

"How do you always know?" But Sephiroth only drank his coffee and brushed his knuckles against her cheek.

A clarion blast interrupted the meal, and Aeris jumped to drop her fork. The general caught it with barely a glance more concerned with her racing heart. "Hm," he pondered over a sip, "that's the second time it's rung today."

"Oh dear gods…" Aeris covered her mouth. "The only person it could be is Edwin."

"Edwin?" He couldn't help the half grin. "Another suitor now, little flower?"

"Well…" She blushed in the blaring echo. "You _did _tell me to 'find someone worthy of my love.'"

He set his cup down and glanced over sadly, "And did you obey that, Aeris?"

"I...tried but you know I couldn't." She took his hand between her two.

"The second time you've disobeyed me, my flower." He brushed her bangs aside as the phone faded away. "I can't say that I'm not glad."

"I've had my fill of puppies," she told him, "and a general demolished my heart. It's way too full of you to ever have room for any other."

"I'm sorry about that, Aeris…"

She kissed his fingers to Sephiroth's continual surprise. "Only you'd apologize for that."

"If it makes you feel any better then you must know my broken heart only whispers your name." He bowed his head pressing his lips to her little hand. "Tell me though, little flower, was he worthy of your love?"

"No."

"Why ever not?" The general cocked his head to the side. Then something froze in falling light. "Aeris, was he…inappropriate with you?"

"No, no, never once!" She silenced the death that dwelled in Mako eyes, and Sephiroth sighed relieved, too.

"Good. I don't have to kill him," he said. "But then why was he unworthy?" Confusion filled the angelic face.

"He wasn't you. You're the only one worthy of my love."

Sephiroth blinked utterly robbed of speech as bemusement now spread to awe.

"He was just another puppy." She wiggled closer, filling her gaze with split emerald light. "And I much prefer cats." He bent to kiss her over their clasped hands, and all thoughts of Edwin of puppies or cats were lost in the twirl of their tongues. The next ring made her giggle against perfect lips as he lifted her onto his lap. The heat of each kiss meant so much more than the blare that soon faded away.

A lock of silver circled one finger as Aeris leaned against his chest. She heaved a sigh, a bit annoyed. "I was only gone two days."

Sephiroth chuckled, "Clearly he missed you." He laid lips to her crown. "My thoughts only held you when I left." Cupping her chin the bright eyes lit her face as he took in the love that it held. "You have a way, little one, of getting inside, of weaving your light through a soul."

She wet her lips to make the jade smolder. "I barely gave him any attention and I think we only kissed twice."

"Ah so there _were _kisses." He grinned without envy to her blush.

"Puppy ones," she admitted. "Nothing like this…" She reached up and Sephiroth met her halfway. Her voice so hidden in the folds of embrace made it that much sweeter. She completed the cycle clinging to his neck as heat seared her tongue without burn.

"What will you tell your Edwin?" Sephiroth asked in between. A hand slid down her back arcing Aeris's spine as her fingers curled against his chest.

"Well, he was never really mine." _And I never fit against him…like I do with you. _The words were unsaid, but his smile grew true as if he had still heard.

"Do you want me to break the news?" His head slightly tilted and shiver thin pupils receded in teasing gleam.

"Oh you'd frighten him half to death!" Aeris gasped envisioning poor Edwin frozen in emerald green. The snicker that followed made her feel awful for the mayor's timid son.

Sephiroth's low laugh blended with her mirth as he bowed his brow to hers. He tightened his arms so carefully round, inhaling scent from summer sweet skin. "I'd only tell him one thing, the truth. That you belong to me."

"And do you belong to me, as well?" she tittered glancing up with a grin.

"Of course," he said gently, lashes sweeping his cheeks as he rubbed his knuckles over her throat.

"It's funny to think that…since I'm wrapped in your arms, and you could easily snap me in two…"

"You know I'd never do that, Aeris," his voice was hushed and horrified. The flower maid gazed up through Mako light and into the heart of grief.

"I know," she assured kissing his cheek, which caused the great eyes to close. When he unsealed his lids, pain was still there, but joy was trying to flourish. "My Great General…" She nestled her head beneath his chin, and Sephiroth stroked her hair.

"You are mine, Aeris, to love and protect." Dark clung to his words for what the past would dredge up.

"So are you…" The world rang with black tones. She shivered a bit then glanced towards sunlight that was still uninformed of thoughts fell. "I _did _write that silly boy a letter, but I suppose I'd better call."

"And what will _you _tell him, Aeris?" Sephiroth asked, planting the smile on his visage.

"Also the truth." She twisted moon locks. "I'm in love with a broken angel."

"You're in love with the angel of death…"

She wanted the salt and the wind in her face to fight undertones of darkness, but once on her porch the waves rolled and grew from a whisper to a roar.

"I've never heard the sea like this." She covered her mouth with her hands.

Sephiroth held her from behind, face a blank canvas of pale. The sky seemed suspended, half shadowed in cloud, half tendriled with stretching sun. There were more monsters. They'd grown quite bold on the outer edge of town, but that was too close…too close to her house, and ire stained emerald like glass. Within his arms, his little rose shook, and he turned his attention back down. The veranda was courted and coddled and wooed by blossoms as white as the beach. Around it upon it between the cracks they grew in stark miracle. Sand was no soil for these types of blooms, and in the rush of the waves he soft smiled.

"I didn't think roses would grow by the sea."

Aeris jerked her head up at that. Her own slim arms were held too tight as he slid his palms slow over. The Planet was frantic and waxed incoherent in trying to read the sea, but his touch brought her peace, and Aeris sighed as she loosened her grip.

"They do now," she answered grinning at petals in fold. "The Planet sort of does what it wants at least in regards to my flowers. They're all the same color, white as new ice, or winter, or silver, or moon…" She was no longer looking at her blooms, but the hair that mocked the same. The stronger wind fought it, lifting his bangs, but unable to toss heavy mane. Sephiroth raised his brows in memory and reached into his coat. The flower girl twisted around curious before an, "Oh," escaped her lips.

"Do you remember this, Aeris? Your second gift to me. Look how it ever blooms." The lily so withered, so battered and worn revived itself in his hand. The flower girl gasped and reached out for memory to meet touch.

"Oh my gods…I do remember. I gave this to you in my church." She closed her palms around the flower and against her skin it shone. Behind her eyes the ones she'd left remembered her little song.

"When I was alone…" He cupped both her hands in the broad expanse of his palm. "I held to this light and remembered you in its glow. This is your doing, Aeris," he said looking down into summer green.

"No, it's not me." She shook her head. "It's all you, Sephiroth."

The general frowned. "How could such a thing be?" He touched a soft petal and the fragrance increased though the wind tried to tear it away.

"I don't know." Aeris made a face. "The Planet's being petulant now." She glared down for a moment then jolted for shame. "Or it's worried about other things…" The flower girl lifted the lily to him, and Sephiroth paused before taking it back. "You said this was my 'second gift.' What was my first to you?"

"Forgiveness, little one, then this lily…then you gave me the heart I once took…" The flawless mask broke to bitter rue, and she leaned back against his chest.

The wind shivered with winter and the flower girl shook, startled from sorrow with fear. He cloaked her tighter in his embrace to fight near choking cold.

"We have to go soon," his voice had turned flat and grieved as the drums of the dead. "We can't delay for long."

"Yes, Sephiroth, the Planet agrees. It's utterly clear about that."

"The cold winds are rising…the greatest cold that lives beyond all the ages of the world. Vile and ceaseless and never once still."

She shuddered even tight held in his arms, and the Great General pulled her closer. "Yes…though it has been here for only two eons its corruption could outlast the Planet itself. It is old and in that it may be ancient…"

"It deserves _not _that name," he almost did hiss. "Old it may be and long may it seethe, but you share nothing of it. Your people and it will not be called within the same warm breath. The darkness will come. Imminent darkness…just like she said." He was utterly rigid as though turned to stone, and his emerald eyes glittered like ice. Aeris shook to lay her palm to his skin, terrified it would be just as cold, but Sephiroth's warmth still dwelt within, though the muscle mimicked mountains beneath. Her touch drew him out of that statuesque shell, and the general looked down to his rose. "There's only one way to go to Midgar, Aeris. I cannot sidestep there…"

She shivered and leaned against him hard. "I'm almost glad for that."

He nodded. "It wouldn't be wise even if I could, not with what lies within." His Mako eyes narrowed in scrutiny. "Are you afraid of heights?"

"I won't be with you, Sephiroth." She stretched to touch his face. "I once woke up afraid every day of my life, but now I fear no more."

Locking his hands around her belly, the general poured his light in her eyes. "I know what we'll find there and yet I don't, Aeris, but I'm certain it'll spread from the source. Poisoning all, starting below…as it did before. The foundation-"

"We'll find it." She clutched his great hands, hoping her belief was enough. "We'll stop it. I did it before, and now I have you by my side." The little Cetra shook her head wracked with guilt for her own transgressions. "Why did I ever leave the city…my purpose was there all along."

"You needed your freedom. You needed your time to live and know joy in the sun."

"But what about the others who didn't have that choice?"

"That's not your fault, little flower." He inhaled so sharply it called a low hiss, and his heart broke to the fear in her eyes. "It's calling me, Aeris…" he had to admit. "It's tugging the threads of my heart, pulling me to glory and pain, but I have no desire for empty lies and pain has been too well known." Sephiroth ground his teeth, and the wrath that bled was against horror and not now for. "It _will _be answered, but not by its wish. It has to be destroyed."

"I won't let you face it alone," she promised. "You won't be left for the dark."

The anger receded and shattered to love as the general pulled her close. She met what was blatant and pouring heat down with the wrath that still limned the edges, and even beyond to the shame of his fear, the pain of his guilt never dying.

"It lies in the tower deep down below." The blood left her face as the waves tossed and roared. "Everything's blurry like a smeared dream, but there is something there." He shook his head glaring in Midgar's direction. "Something…left. That's where it comes from." He could find it in darkness with no eye light. Memory would lead him there.

Preparation meant they'd have to go about town, and she had to call Edwin ere that. Not that she expected the mayor's son to make a scene, but it seemed the most courteous thing. Aeris could envision those boring brown eyes widening past his face at such sight. He'd probably just stammer before running away, and she sighed as the tone broke the silence.

Sephiroth grimly paced before her bay window, finding flaw with a myriad plans. _It makes no difference, _he thought watching the sun sink in shadow. _I'll destroy it before it harms her. Blood Ancient and pure must never be spilled. That's all that matters now. _His ears perked up as he heard her speak, and despite all amusement still spread.

"Edwin. Yes, I am back. You _did _receive my letter. I told you…I went to find my love."

A jolt tore through Sephiroth's heart. Aeris had said it, but it was another thing to hear her choose him over all. He stepped over to her with boots ever soundless to run smooth fingers over her throat.

The flower girl gasped. "Y-Yes I'm fine." She glared up into pulsing jade, and Sephiroth chuckled smiling down. "I'm sorry, Edwin. I know you did. It wasn't fair what I did to you." He brushed his lips beneath her braid to the shivering skin of her neck. Pressing them soft to fragrant warmth as the flower girl tried to breathe.

"Ah...I'm sorry, it's only the sea. It's…far louder today." Aeris gritted her teeth in perceived annoyance, and her general halved his lids. Long lashes fluttered in the wake of her breath as the flower girl begged him in silence.

"I'm so happy your parents liked me. I pray they'll like me still. I hope one day we can be friends, but I'll give you what time you need-" A large hand had crept up her belly to cup one breast and whispers revived in her ear. What he would do so exquisitely slow til she drowned in pleasure's depths. Aeris's knees nearly gave way as his lips to her neck sealed the promise. She clutched the phone tight to her ear for something mundane to hold.

"I…I…yes. No, no, I'm fine, just tired from my…t-travels." She whirled around and Sephiroth nibbled her throat without a hint of mercy. Both mirth and need spun gleaming light as Aeris thanked the gods for the boy's rambling speech. She covered the mouthpiece for whimper so torn and the deep laughter that followed. Sephiroth leaned to her ear and poured his low voice like honey as Aeris quaked.

"You belong only to me, little flower, and not to this boy who calls you 'Miss Airs.'"

Shock spun the Cetra as he only grinned and kissed her brow before rising above.

"E-Edwin, I have to go. I have some errands to run. Yes, goodbye. I'm…sorry again." She hung up the phone and stomped forward. Her guardian cocked his head to the side, crooked grin on his perfect lips. "So you were eavesdropping?!" She put her hands on her hips. "I never took the Great General for that."

"I tried to tune out your little talk, but happened to just catch that."

The flower girl sighed, dropping her arms. "He never once said it right. I should've known it wouldn't work out." She looked up at him shielding his grief with this mask of mirth. Finishing her step into his arms so she was shrouded in silver skein. "I love the way you say it."

He bent low and breathed her name along the side of her neck. Aeris shuddered at that from her skin to her heart, and Sephiroth felt that beat through his soul.

"So will you keep all those promises you made?" The Cetra glanced up shyly coy.

"I'll always keep my promises to you."

He cupped her chin as the kiss caught her lips, but the grim of the sea stole their joy. Deeper than shadows to lay fear like ice, and the Planet whispered, _Hurry. _Though Sephiroth did not hear that cry, he felt it through her skin.

Their preparations took little time, but the world still urged her on. Its voice was forlorn, not like before, as though sorrow now ate at its heart. She never saw Edwin within Wesker's Square and was both relieved and sad. The former emotion did not last long. The rumbling sea saw to that. The air of the Whispers turned grey as high vaults, and the people were shadowed below. Aeris trembled even clutching Sephiroth's hand to the sky shelf that lingered above. A storm without warning that never did break but never ceased bearing down. Stores closed earlier citing small reasons that hid stark behind greater fear, and the crafts that shuffled and bobbed at the pier went out less and less each day. Rumors of monsters passed below breath, and in the shadows hid unspoken past. They couldn't feel the very world hounding their steps, but knew something was awry.

The night before Aeris thought she heard thunder and quaked in her general's arms. It was hard to tell as the wind howled to scold the rough sea that now boiled in foam. The groan from above (or was it below?) tore her from euphoria. The afterwards of lovemaking that should've been sweet behind gentle summer eyes.

"Aeris," he murmured, clutching her close, "I will kill anyone or anything that ever tries to hurt you."

"I don't want you to kill anyone ever again." His broken heart filled her ears.

"Neither do I." In the dark emerald shone and she laid a hand next to that light. "It's strange, but I truly don't. I want this to end…I want to be free, but that will never be, little rose."

"You will. I promise." She stretched up to lay lips to her brow. Lost light proved he'd sealed his lids, and he held that til slumber found her. He wouldn't sleep, but he would watch over as a good guardian should. Light would be needed no matter how fell for tomorrow the darkness would rise.

The mirror held vision of calmer veneer as Aeris tied up her hair. The braid and high bangs that framed her pale face even whiter against her brown dress. The air was still heavy from her warm shower, and she cleared clinging damp from the glass. _I was wrong in Midgar, _she thought to her mimic_, far beneath the stones. I _am _still that pink ingénue…she'll always live within. The slums didn't kill her, the dark didn't change her, and death did not wash her away. _Her garb was frayed and fuzzy, but she'd rather that than something new. In Midgar before this would've been practical for far more serious reasons, but Aeris had no thoughts to spare for clutching, lustful hands. She wished that was the worst of fears as she looped a white ribbon around.

Her general stood tall on the balcony cutting the sea with pupils like blades. The waves thrashed the sand, which fizzled and whined, freeing shells that flashed white in the gloom. Sun residue flickered through layered skies. It was as though the storm had compounded, and only the sea tossed in its sway. The roar was in protest without any power, and the great waters now begged for help.

Silver on leather tumbled down long over dazzling pauldrons above. Aeris wondered if he'd polished them, then lost breath and thought as he turned. Sephiroth's face held its mask even with her in his sight. Only eyes that knew could through see the seams within such flawless armor. Every buckle on his coat and boots burned with borrowed light. Moonlight and ashes framed his face so flawlessly cold before. He was the Great General, SOLDIER First Class whose strength reigned supreme over all.

Each step Aeris took towards him she feared her knees would give way. Awe in the grandeur had her staring up with eyes too dry to blink. This was what he'd been long ago before abomination raped his mind. The arrogance, the glory, the utter belief that he was better than all. Then he clasped her shoulders and all but the beauty turned into dust of the past.

"I won't let anything hurt you, Aeris."

"I know you won't, Sephiroth." His fingers were warm within the black gloves even through her brown dress.

"And I would die a thousand times more to save one drop of your innocent blood."

"Don't talk like that." Her voice waned in hush. "You're not going to die," she commanded as her heart shamed the roar of the tide. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"Rather me then you, my innocent one." He bowed his head to smile so sad. "You've died for me before…besides," he said caressing the skin so soft beneath her chin, "I doubt that I can. Horror keeps me alive as eugenics makes me strong."

"It's not so horrible then anymore if it provides that grace."

Sephiroth slid his palm over her cheek, still in awe of her kindness. "When we come back…we'll pick up right where we left off." The desperation spared his voice, but turned the emerald to glass, and the maid did blink to obscure tears that would break his heart more if she shed. "I'm the worse thing that's ever happened to you, Aeris, and I protect you now."

"You do far more than just protect me…" She stepped into his arms. Sephiroth traced the curve of her spine, hiding the pain of this trust. Once he became what he appeared now, the general had never known fear. That was for weak and broken children not glory that silverly gleamed, but to fail her now would lie within the very worst of his crimes.

"We should go…" Aeris forced herself say for in his arms she forgot the night. The sky that looked torn became blue and fair, and the Planet laughed like a child at play. They went back inside and he shut the door so the wind left the drapes in peace. She slipped on her coat from the closet downstairs, the green one untroubled by moths. It had known Midgar before just like her brown dress. The darkness and dank would be new to her boots, and she tried hard to quiet her fingers. Larger ones and steady took the tying task away, and he lifted her chin to speak love through a kiss. Her staff and her satchel were put in their place, and Aeris tied the oak stick to a strap. Halfway to blindness with tears in her eyes that she angrily chased with her hand. This was not the time. She was dutiful daughter, and she knew what she had to do.

The sea surged before them foam coating their boots as Sephiroth held her from behind. His gaze pierced the distance, and she looked up in wonder not daring to ask what he could see.

"You know…your lashes look just like wings." It was innocent against creeping dark. Even the Planet so mired in woe sparked a swift song at those words.

He pressed his hands to her soft belly within the careful embrace. Not daring to pray, but wishing he could ask greater will to keep this rose safe. _My strength…it has to be enough. Why else do I have it now? _He lifted his lips to mimic a smile and hide his expression so grim.

"It would be strange if I only had one set, don't you think, little flower?" She returned him his smile as the waves at their feet tumbled and roared in the gloom. "Shall we go? Fate is calling…" Her mirth dissolved and Aeris nodded before Sephiroth swept her up. She clung to his neck squeezing so close his scent became her whole world. Silk wove vanilla like frost on glass panes, but the warmth there belied struggling sun. The white caps broke fizzling against his black boots, as the general walked away from the Whispers. Eyes cutting shadows and watching for monsters, which grew bolder to stir in the day. When the distance was ample, he whirled towards the sea so his coat and hair flared like two wings.

"Look at my face, Aeris."

Lifting her head she stared at loveliness lit by grief. He held her chin gently within firm veneer so she didn't attempt to turn.

"Will it be painful?" the Cetra asked.

"Yes. It rips through my flesh."

Her lip trembled beneath the press of his thumb.

"It's fine, little one. It's worth it to me."

"Why?"

"Because the alternative drags you through darkness…and I have you in my arms."

Within Mako light the agony of that great, black wing unfurled. It took less than a beat to lift them aloft, as the thrum of her heart drowned out the sea. She wished to obey, but her eyes had turned traitor, and their corners caught glimpse of his shame. It was darker than the blackness that lived beyond night, but the feather near her breast warmed her skin. The wind did Aeris no favors with that cutting cold across her cheeks. A banner of moonlight streamed out from behind, and the maid let the silk bathe her fingers.

Sephiroth faced destiny with determination holding the mask to his face. His grip on the Cetra was just below crushing for his flower would not fall, and Aeris leaned forward kissing his cheek as they flew through the mist and clouds. His arms saved her from the worst of the wet so it shattered against leather black. The remnants of moisture clung to her hair, shimmering dew in chestnut. The sun burned in freedom but no hint of light touched that great wing above. It swallowed it down and gave nothing back, and Sephiroth grit his teeth flying fast. She had to bury her face near his collar for the sun had no warmth for the air. Her arms clutched tighter around his neck, but didn't come close to his grip around.

"Have you only ever had one wing?" Through the roar he heard her still.

"I've always been broken, Aeris." He had to turn to find her ear for the air so starved for words. "I don't need it to fly, but I can't fly without it…if that makes any sense."

"It does, Sephiroth."

The general's teeth ground themselves to a halt as her hands soft clasped in his hair. She just…understood without need to explain and wasn't horrified at all. Despite the foulness of his truth, flying had always brought joy. It was a way to pretend that he was free far above the world below. Now holding her where they'd found the sun, he wanted to bear her away. Far, far beyond where dark couldn't reach soaring away in cerulean vaults. Then the night of his wing stained his emerald sight. He'd never be free of horror or grief. He carried them both in his soul. His blood was full tainted with that creeping dark that called his named ever and now. _King of the ashes, king of the shadows. My fate was always to fall…_

Aeris rested her cheek against her love's where it defied the swift winds with its warmth. Utter wonder spun beauty on her soft face, and Sephiroth felt her awe without sight. The world was a-light this far above and she was full safe in his arms. Her braid whipped away so stroked by silver that flew ever behind in his wake.

"Oh this is better than the sea…" She stretched forth a hand for the air. It clawed at her skin, and Aeris closed her fist to cage what she sought in her palm. Sephiroth turned to witness this elation and kissed her embraced by the sky, but joy could not sunder what he knew as truth: he was carrying her towards death. The air above sliced through silver and black as though to steal his only wing. He battered the wind and it whined so conquered, and he only did not crush his rose.

_I'm going to lose her, _Sephiroth thought and his heart stalled in his chest. He couldn't retreat. He was held to his promise. Blood and steel bound them together. He turned in the air toward the city below, as feathered shadow swallowed the light.

* * *

_Author's Note: The next chapter **What is Found There **will be posted next Friday August 7._

_Thank you for all your continued comments/reviews and favorites!_


	21. What Is Found There

"**Grief does not change you…it reveals you."  
-John Green "The Fault in Our Stars"**

**Chapter 21  
What Is Found There**

Sunlight made Midgar no less dark and the tower still raped the sky. From far above nothing moved below even to slivered eyes, and Aeris in breathing started to cough from the reek that assailed her nostrils.

"It's rotting…" she whispered, but he still could hear.

"It's Mako," was empty reply. His face was a death mask, unmoving and cold as the winds that still held them above. She touched his cheek and the general turned, emerald melting from ice to pure grief.

He pulled up within the city's perimeter to a slow descent. Debris fled in the disturbed air before his boots touched down. Moonlight and ashes fell in perfection against his long black coat, and before Aeris blinked the great wing was gone as he shook the hair from his face. He put her down gently but kept steadying arms around the flower maid. She was glad for her legs forgot in that short time how to properly work, but she couldn't dwell long on that inconvenience for sights never seen before. Above the plate where the elite dwelled and the sun rose and set every day. No wane light to order their days, they were the ones to command…or they did once.

Sephiroth lifted her chin. "Are you alright to walk, little flower? I can carry you if you wish so long as my sword hand is free."

"I'm fine." She shuddered but didn't know why when he mentioned the sword. How long had it been since she had shown fear of him or the Masamune? _It must be the air of this dark place. _She clutched his hand and peered up to buildings taller than she could see. Even in sunlight the city was dark as if it sucked up that energy, too.

A lamppost on the corner shone in the dim, and Aeris brushed her palm on cracked paint, while Sephiroth tied their fingers together, letting his senses draw everything in. The manse that subdued the full length of a block was silent to stale air within. A high window yawned around jagged glass, but that was the only damage.

"Aeris," he called and she twisted up, rubbing residue against her dress.

Through Midgar they walked the quieting streets where luxury waited unused. Cars parked in rows untouched by all violence save the cruelty of time. Leaves gathered in wheel wells and miniscule squeaks echoed behind flattened rubber. The house that was bigger than Kalm lolled in silence, expecting any moment the door to be breached. A side one was open, and Sephiroth stared in, splintering darkness with his emerald light. Papers and treasures were flung to the floor, but human scent had long faded away.

Aeris clutched her staff far too tight, but it was not in fear of the unknown. Her general's hand so warm around hers quelled any terror of what might lurk. He could act far faster than she ever could to bring danger to an end. No…growing truth squeezed little fingers for what she didn't want to be. The wide avenues where the elite had strolled were now home only to cats and cracked asphalt. The former growing fat on the rats that feast on what humans leave behind.

"There's no one here…" Her voice was a whisper because she only wanted to scream. He pulled his gaze from the tower that curled up his lip to witness her trembling and pale. "Midgar is dead."

"Was it ever alive? No, it fed off life, but never lived."

"And the ones forgotten still rot below in the shadow of husks above. People die beneath, but there's no one here. There's no one here at all! It's empty, emptier than before. The slum-born suffer for nothing…"

Tears cracked her face and he drew her against as the lonely wind scattered debris. Sephiroth stroked her hair and tried to focus on only her heartrending sobs. Every crack in the ground held incessant scratching, as if waiting below the rotting foundation, the horror was poised to rise.

"There's a memory to this place, Aeris," he told her. "The elite…they finally did care."

"That gives small comfort to the souls dying in darkness below." It was buried in tears, but the general still caught the words on mournful tide.

"No, little one, don't do that. Don't let bitterness rule your heart. You are the light the darkness so fears. Even beyond death you shone."

Her little hands clenched into tight fists upon the straps on his chest. Aeris sniffed and looked up at his face to see her own hope reflected. He was wearing it well, but it was still mask. The Cetra could always see through, but the fact he would try just for her sake made her expression attempt to ring true.

Sephiroth slid his hands down her back, wrinkling his nose at the stench in the air. He concentrated to separate Mako from past, wind from what occurred long ago. "They walked away," he told her. "There's no thread of death. I can taste the memories, the utter shame, the crushing guilt of their petty lives. After my…actions it caught them at last, what they were ignoring, what they'd allowed, what festered beneath their feet."

"It's still there." The flower girl pulled herself back and Sephiroth let her go. She took a few steps closer to the great tower, steel pristine in dying day. "And something deeper…but the Planet doesn't know what. It's bad. It's awful. It's…worse than before." She shut her eyes and he took her shoulders. "_The world turned without_. I don't know what that means…"

"It means we stop it, little flower." He took her hand as the tower grew taller in the epicenter of their sight. Those engines of destruction, the Mako reactors still tore life from the world. _All of them, _he thought. _All of them active when before there had been just a few. Yet the city is empty save for the slums, and the cracks in the ground whisper death._

Before the steps of his former employer there were cars bumper to grill. No space even dwelled between to let general and maid pass through.

"I think you were right." Aeris laid a palm to a once luxurious brand. "It's like just one day, they all stood up and left." She kicked aside clutter to peer through a window. "There's a briefcase rotted through."

Sephiroth ducked beside her and emerald lit what was left. "Chewed through by rats or fouler." He scooped her up and leapt over the cars. It mimicked flight in its smoothness, but there was no elation now. The air hung heavy like steeped in a swamp and it grew worse the closer they drew. All around the cracked ground issued up scratching, a noise he could not block out. Their tiny claws etched out the torture, the futility of escape. He knew that too well as he set Aeris down before the unstained glass doors. There were lights but the locks were fully engaged, and she peered through tensed for vision of people for surely some had to be here. Why waste power to keep this place lit if no one dwelled within?

Sephiroth turned to the numbered panel lit bright as a star full sky. He put in the code as memories descended to the shush of the doors sliding soft. Ghosts passed before, some carrying papers, some rushing to meetings so late. His appearance always prompted a shuffling hush, the very sight of him calling command. He'd always ignored it without any mask. He'd needed none because he didn't care. Striding to the elevators to fulfill the summons that had drawn him back to this place. His wake left pure awe for some moments long though his gaze never turned their way. They were lucky in that for emerald so bared could've burned them all alive.

Now the shades passed through him in memory cold, but Aeris's hand was warm. The immense lobby held only stale air, and her heart echoed in his ears. High ceilings could shame a cathedral. The sepulchral air would mock a tomb. It was so pristine the general's lip curl up in disgust. Always perfect, always pure to hide what screamed beneath. The little hand slipped out of his, and Sephiroth shook off the memory.

"It looks so normal…like an office building. Nothing like what it is." She peered up. "It doesn't smell here," the flower girl realized. "It's just the stale of still air."

"No, it never would, little one. They'd never allow it…not even now."

Aeris spun around and her skirt flared dancing dust motes in the light. "I've…only ever been here once, I-I mean at least this part." She bowed her head to his narrowed eyes. "I was raised here…so were you. We both come from the same place, the same horror."

He sealed the distance and lifted her face to his, holding tight to the mask. "You don't come from horror, little rose. You were forced into its clutch."

Aeris nodded as much as she could with her chin caged in his grip. He let her go so they walked beneath fixtures emitting hum and light. "My mother was brought here right after my birth after they…killed my father."

"I know," he told her retaking her hand and giving a gentle squeeze. The Cetra half smiled, curling her fingers in the warmth of his. "This might sound odd in all that transpired, but I respected him, Aeris, far more than my own…" His pupils sliced through emerald so deep they bled Mako light hot on his face, and the flower maid quelled all questions. Some doors should never be opened even if you have the key.

The once general turned to the left at the elevators, and Aeris craned her neck back confused.

"Don't we have to go below?"

"Yes we do, little one, but those will not take us there. They wanted no link to the black labs within their shining façade."

The flower girl shuddered and clutched at his arm as the corridor narrowed and dimmed. How he remembered this winding path, she would never know. At some points the dark won to lights long gone, and Mako lit night with bright gleam. Every door they passed was sealed with red pulse that demanded a code for entry. Sephiroth ignored them, leading her on through a maze that would distress its master. It was down a narrow hallway barely wide enough for his shoulders, and Aeris froze with half a whimper. There was nothing in her memory that told her be afraid, merely what emanated from below. She was before him for the slim way, hand still clutched in leather behind.

"It's alright, Aeris." He frowned as she jumped. "I'm not going to force you forward."

The flower maid swallowed, peering up as she leaned back into his form. "You'd never force me to do anything."

"That's right, little flower. I never will." He met her gaze, hair sweeping forth to brush the skin of her neck.

"We have to hurry…we don't have a choice, but it's not you forcing me." She raised her eyes to the way laid before. "That's it…isn't it, Seph?"

His lips twitched up into what would've been a smile if circumstance had been different. "Yes, little flower, it is." The ceiling was as low as the walls were close, but he'd long lost his fear of such things. "I won't lie to your Aeris, when I was called here, they always wanted blood."

The Cetra shuddered and he regretted his words, bowing his head to seal his lids. There was light up ahead so Aeris wasn't blind, but it paled in the gleam of his own. The voice of the Planet jolted her soles, and she shivered drawn then to move on. Sephiroth stretched when they were clear of that hall in a small square room of wane light. Right before them near as black as his wing were massive steel wrought doors.

The once general laid a hand over the dark portals. _Black doors, black labs, _was his thought. There was only one button with arrow forlorn and a place to slide in a key card. He glared at the slot as he pressed, willing the circuitry to obey. Sephiroth's mind brought them together as though in between dwelled his ancient ID. The light flickered white as a bleached skull, and the doors slipped easily open. No rattle, no creak choked that gateway, and the machinations within whirred so soft. Cold, empty steel greeted two pairs of green eyes, and Aeris gripped his fingers tight.

"There aren't any stairs?" she asked of him, gripping tight with her other hand. Sephiroth drew her close once more as the open space hummed to itself. The interior was larger than most huts in the slums, but that did nothing for Aeris's fear.

"There are, but it's a long way down…to the black labs of our youth."

"That's where it is…" She didn't need ask. "It has to come full circle."

"It always does, my little flower, but we can break it now." He stepped close and kissed her on the brow. "What did I tell you, Aeris? Nothing will hurt you." The warmth lingered on her skin like daylight. Despite everything, the danger, the memory, the past to rise again, the flower girl smiled and stepped through those doors that yawned like a waiting mouth.

Nails raked against the walls of their bondage, and the hiss made Sephiroth whirl. The air thinned before him and he felt _it _coming for his little rose. Aeris screamed as he released her hand for the sword to slash at shadows. Eyes wide to the white, the general spun back banishing the Masamune again. She was reaching forth as the slamming doors shook the dead tower and silenced the ghosts.

Leaping forward, Sephiroth dug his fingers into the crack and tore the steel as he forced it apart. The thick cable slide like a striking snake, and Mako light burned on lost mask. Her scream tore his ears, unknown if just echo or her terror descending far down. He wrapped one hand around the black cord, but didn't tighten it fully around. Instead it played out against his hand, friction ripping his glove to shreds. His palm fared far better slowing the cable against his unbreakable skin. Utter concentration ruled the general's face as he calculated speed. He squeezed his fist as his heart followed suit to still suddenness of the stop. Then hand over hand he lowered the car unseen to the depths below.

"Aeris!" His low voice turned hollow in the cold shaft, and only an echo returned. The cries of her terror no more rang out and that horrified him worst of all. He couldn't hear her heart and the scent of sweet summer had been sundered by empty fear. The jump down cold concrete would mimic his fall, and there was no room to spread his one wing.

Sephiroth bolted swifter than a blink to the stairs he had just condemned. Kicking in the door, he leapt over its fall as the klaxon invaded his ears. With barely a thought, he silenced the noise to match darkness within the chill. The light had long died, though that hardly mattered to the Great General's eyes. He leapt down each landing barely stopping to turn as moonlight and ash streamed behind. The crumbling stone succumbed to his weight so chunks rattled beneath black boots. Down and down Sephiroth sped far beneath rotting foundation. Echoes lifted from below and a soft voice whispered, _Come. _

He gritted his teeth and thought only of her and how he had failed in his task. _She is dead. _His heart faltered and the general near fell, foot turning on loosened stone, but he righted himself and remembered her lily that bloomed beyond death with new life. By the time he reached the deepest below the stairs there were long gone. Crumbled away into ancient dust. He didn't hesitate to jump. Needing no wing in this descent for he'd no innocent to protect. The crunch of his boots did not compare to what would break if his flower were hurt. Dust rose up and danced in his light and laid a path to the door. It was half buried in ash and debris, but Sephiroth wasted no time. He drove the Masamune through the steel and sliced it through the top. The rusted hinge was no match for his strength, and the general slid through to a pale lit corridor where time held dust motes in midair.

The past struck him immediately, and Sephiroth froze with eyes burning wide. Pristine white flooded his vision in contrast to the "black" of the labs. Memories slunk muddily through an overwhelmed mind, and he heard the voice, _Come to me_. It was that which freed him, and he whirled towards the doors that should've concealed his rose. They were open and the general leaned on the frame, scanning the space within. Aeris was gone but he smelled no death just summer warmth, pale fear, and…something. The hair on his neck arose in alarm, and Sephiroth spun around. Sinister snickers stroked the air as the past wove before Mako eyes. He had to find her. She was all that mattered, find her and destroy the false.

As the once general stalked the halls of his youth, the untouched shroud faded away. Where above was perfect despite drifting dust, down here chaos had played. Papers were spilling out of a lab where a door hung from half a hinge. Overturned tables blocked corridors and missing tiles revealed rusted pipes. It was the clatter that brought down his eyes to bone so white on ripped up floor. Sephiroth turned to stone so only his coat and hair flared in the last step. Eyes pulsing bright he stared at the corpse face down where it had fallen. Who he had been and what he done were lost to antiquity. The weight of the ages had buried his name as readily as his rotted ID.

"No one will ever remember you or the horrors that you performed." The general's voice so low did not echo, but was caught in the folds of lost time. Only Aeris could've seen it, emerald tinged with rue. _His_ name and _his_ horrors would ever be known even were he to join the dead. _The dead will not have me. I belong to the dark. _A vision of summer arose.

High steady beat lifted his ears, and Sephiroth's breath hissed at inhale. The pulse quickened with notes of raw fear tingeing summer leaves. He ran where it led him, pushing through a door as the weight of the world bore down. His own heart echoed in time with hers for he knew too well where he was. The general flashed between then and now, shutting his eyes as he flew. The ghosts passed through him, chilling his heart but he hardened it to that pain. His name aloud jerked Sephiroth's head to the large glass window before. Smeared and stained but still intact, its sight parted his perfect lips. He slowly turned lifting one hand as he leaned against to its creak. The harmony of hearts tangled in his ears, but that rushing breath was his alone.

He had been chained here and hung by his hair to writhe in torture and pain. It was a two way mirror with insides full dark save for bleeding green eyes. Never could he remember seeing this view, the watcher instead of the watched. The chain was still there though rusted half through. The rope had long rotted away. If he sharpened his gaze, maybe he'd find pale hairs slightly tainted with blood. But his vision soon melted and what flew before was more horrible than that lost child.

Mako burned hot to sheer through the years, through time and space it did flow. Mist covered the window before his lips, but nothing blurred Sephiroth's view. The screams still found him beyond the ages as bodies twisted in flame. Tongues of fire lifting their own until they, too, were burned to ash. The general cried out to warn them away as flesh melted to smoke and embers, but his voice was silenced by cruel time and even crueler fate. He couldn't stop it. It was the past. If their blood hadn't sizzled from melted veins, it, too, would've coated his hands. Then what he had dreaded stained emerald eyes, but he dared not turn away. What right did he have when he had wrought this very horror before? Seeing himself cold and ever unburnt washed with fire with skin like ice. _Fire can't destroy. It can only transform. It transformed me into a monster. No…it only revealed me. I was a monster all along._

Sephiroth fell to his knees still forced to see as silver spilled over his coat. His nails scratched the glass leaving white streaks that melded with those lost ashes. The vision consumed him as the flames swallowed all save the corruption that slunk. Drowning in memories, he only could watch as all of his sins were replayed. But when he descended to murder the light, the fallen could take no more. Mako eyes sealed as he arched his back as though the sword had sawn through his flesh, and in the flames that still crackled he heard the dark words, _Come to me, dearest child._

Aeris unwound her arms from her knees and dared to lift her head. The last sight she remembered was her great guardian whirling back around. She'd caught a glimpse of his Mako eyes filled with utter fear. Even now in recollection, the flower girl trembled for that could never be. Her voice was hoarse from ragged screams that had shriveled to piteous whimpers.

She'd clung to the railing crouched in the corner as the pressure near split her ears. Tiny fingers were cut so tight did she hold and her jaw was sore to clenched teeth. The maiden would die, slain again by death from above, but this time it embraced her and promised to shatter every delicate bone. Then suddenly her descent did slow, and through her grip she lifted a lid. The whistle had lowered within the deep shaft, each moment the tone growing softer. Breath burst from Aeris's lips in hope she prayed wouldn't bloom in vain.

The jolting stop threw her to the ground, and she gasped and backed to the corner. Pulling her knees up into her chest the maid wrapped her arms around. Cold steel burned her skin and awakened her mind to the memories that dwelled deep down. Summer green flashed open and focused on now, finding her wood staff on the floor. The orb within slept perhaps dimmed by the depth or subdued by its mistress's fear. The Cetra jerked up as the car dropped again and her heart followed in its fall, but this was far slower and smooth with no stops as if in control from above.

"Sephiroth…" she whispered frozen in place. Standing would do her no good. There was an exit through the roof, but Aeris was too short to reach. Even if she balanced on the rails it was beyond her stretch. _And what would I do if I could get out? I'd just be stuck on top. _Silence reigned save for slow grinding against the cold concrete, and the flower girl fought pulse and breath, shutting her eyes again. She envisioned him gripping the taut black cable in his powerful hands. Slowly performing without any effort a task beyond strength of men. The mask would be fractured, but he'd force the hold despite having nothing to prove.

The moment the elevator reached the bottom the doors slid silently open. Aeris tightened her arms around in terror for what would then await, but only pale hallways greeted her gaze, as white as his great wing was black. _Come, child…_the soft voice lifted her head, and she untangled her limbs from each other.

_Dear friend? _There was no answer save low under-hum, but Aeris obeyed the command. Her little hands shook, but she picked up her staff finding steadier fingers around it. The façade fully shattered when the Cetra emerged, the halls yellowed and fouled like old teeth. A whine cut the air and it took her a moment to realize it was hers. Her wrists burned in memory of so many needles, and she clutched them to still the pain. Once she'd worn bracers to hide what remained, but death had erased those fell lines.

Each flicker of light held dark memory as Aeris passed through empty halls. The floor was patterned with more missing than tiles, and a spilled potted plant rendered soil. The bones of its branches crunched under her boots for not even Cetra touch could revive. Nothing grew here though earth was revealed, and she balked to a nearly black hall. Then a flash revealed a struggling light, and the whisper of fate drew her forth. Muffled logic in her mind told Aeris that she should wait. The stairs were right by her once death trap, but she'd heard the Planet's voice…and something else, something so lost she wanted to tear at her heart's tender bindings.

Twisting and winding through the black labs, empty as darkness lost. Once important documents papered the ground as if the occupants had had a parade. The silence held singing just bare beneath, a mere layer between her ears. She let her hands brush over the walls where the dust was so old it did crumble. Each touch pulsed memory through her fingers, flickered like a forgotten film. _Child, here, _the dear voice said and tears shimmered like pearls in green seas. She lifted her hand to a broken window where jagged teeth sought Ancient blood. Aeris picked up one crackling beneath her boots, turning the sliver in her hand. One side was clear and one showed her face, the innocent ingénue still. No matter the time no matter her actions, this would never change.

Dust seemed to gather in the back of her throat and her lip trembled as she looked up. The sharpened shard rejoined its brethren as her eyes focused on the chain. It grew from the wall like a great rusty snake with manacles made for tiny hands. The stillness took her memory and washed the past away. Window whole, but now she watched though she was still that child weeping alone…

_The cell was dark and freezing cold and they'd taken her mother away. Tears and runnings wet her knees and stained her thin white shift. Ifalna had tried to calm her daughter's fears, but that was hard for it bound her own heart. Before the child had always gone, too, though put in a room with toys. It was bright colored, and the walls and her giggles had muffled out any screams. Sometimes though she was brought to the lab, as her mother stared hard before. Hands on her thighs, she forced herself watch needles enter the tiny veins. The little girl hated those times of course, though her mother soon hushed that away, but now in the dark so cold and alone she'd take a hundred stabbing hurts._

_It was only a click, but the child looked up, sacred word on the edge of her lips. Then ragged screams tore through the air as quickly as she could draw in breath. Luminous green sheared through the room, making her cower and wail at the wall._

"_I'm sorry. Don't cry. I'm shutting them now." An anxious voice replaced the light. The little girl's breath still caught in her fear for what now dwelled in her blindness. "What are you doing here crying and cold all alone in the darkness?" But the little girl only whimpered. Whiter light tore through her eyes, burying the child's face back in her knees. Her tiny body trembled so hard, hiccupping coughs were shaken out. The voice in her mind that also called her daughter told her to look up. Fighting the tremble to lift her head, the child saw a strange boy before. His eyes were shut and silver hair streamed all the way down his back. It framed skin too pale, and thickly fringed lids barely held back that scary light._

"_They took my mommy," she sobbed and a line creased his brow as he frowned._

"_They take a lot of people," he told her, and the little girl whimpered when his lids slowly did part. The glow was less harsh within the room's light after he'd flipped the switch. He was tall like a grown up where even her jumps would fall short every time. "How old are you?"_

_She bit her lip, rubbing at her pink nose. "Three and a half." Emerald eyes widened and the little girl shrieked at pupils sharp as a waiting blade._

"_Shhh!" the pale boy frantically held up his hands, as his sleeves came tumbling down. He pushed them back up whirling about to check the window in the door. _

_The little girl's mouth shut with a snap. She didn't want _them _to come. This boy wasn't her mommy, but he was better than _them _and seemed almost as frightened as her. He had his ear pressed to the steel, body tensed as though waiting for blows. A sigh slumped his shoulders, and he turned back around, but not before halving his lids._

"_That's really young." He stepped closer with head cocked to the side. "I'm eleven." She swallowed her tears and blinked back up. "What's your name?"_

_A tiny tremor shook the child's bottom lip, but she still whispered, "Aeris"._

"_Aeris?" he said. _

_She nodded and sniffed. "My mommy told me it means 'air.'"_

"_My name is Sephiroth." He gave a slight nod. "They told me it means 'gods' light.'"_

_The little girl tried to his constant repeats, but it was beyond her three year old skills. He finally settled for the truncated "Seph" giving her a hard won smile._

"_Do you know where they took your mother?" he asked, rolling up his other sleeve. Aeris peeked up over her knees as if she were trying to see a secret. He wasn't dressed like anyone else she'd seen here with black pants and an over large shirt. His feet at least were bare as hers. She stared back up at his face._

"_No. They took her. I dunno where. You're prettier than her."_

_The boy only shrugged as she sniffled again. "I'll…I'll help you find her." Sephiroth gave her a glance. "You're too young to be left alone." His brow creased again to follow his scowl, making him older than his years. Reaching out a hand as his sleeve rolled over, he patiently waited not looking her way._

_Aeris's heart raced through her chest as if it could best her ribs. She scrambled up to stand with feet turned in and her head bowed suddenly shy. He stayed where he was with hand outstretched not grabbing her like the others. Tiptoeing on the cold tiled floor, Aeris shook her bangs from her face. The braid once neat was messy from tears, but the pink ribbon was still tight around. Loving hands had tied it into a bow while Ifalna had whispered her vow. "One day I'll show you true light, Aeris. Now can't steal forever." _

_The strange boy's hand was warm and strong in leading her to the door. _

"_Do you know where _your_ mommy is?" she asked as his fist squeezed on the handle._

"_My mother is dead." He didn't look back for the pulse in his eyes would break darkness. "I never met her. She died giving me birth."_

"_Oh," was all Aeris could think to say. She chewed on her thumb while he peered through the seam. "Your eyes are funny." Sephiroth turned back around. Long lashes veiled them, and Aeris half hid her face against his arm. "Why don't you blink?"_

"_I don't need to."_

"_They're scary."_

"_I'm sorry." He shut them away, pulling the knob to spill in light from the hallway._

"_You're not though." Aeris reached for the silver, and her curious fingers were soft. "And your hair is nice."_

_Furtive glances showed the west sector empty, but Sephiroth still double checked. Aeris squeezed her lids closed to brighter light, but still hummed along with the Planet. He glanced down and raised a finger to his lips so she kept the song in her head. Ascetic, white light washed out the children as they crept down the hall. The thrum of great engines filled the air, near driving out the deep pulse from below. Aeris wanted to hum to make sure she could catch that so that she could hear the word, _Daughter. _There was something else churning that made her feel sick, and she bit her lip to still the whimper._

_Closed doors shunned them with their red lights searing the ever cold air. Aeris held tight to her new friend's hand as his sleeves rolled down again._

"_Your clothes are funny, too." Sephiroth's shoulders stiffened for he thought he heard echoing voices._

"_I…borrowed them." Glancing at her with a tilt of his head, he flicked the pink ribbon in her hair. "Where did you get this from?" he asked. "They let you wear it?"_

"_My mommy gave it to me."_

_His face froze in mask near frigid as the hall. He twisted back around. "My mother gave me nothing, not even my name…" _

_Footsteps resounded down a side hall growing louder to conversation. Tears slid down Aeris's cheeks to shorter, huffing breaths. They'd take her away and lock her up. She'd never see her mother again. The palm against hers grew slick with sweat as Sephiroth backed against the wall. He turned to her as a whimper formed at her lips, shaking his head so silver hair flew._

"_Shh, don't cry. It'll be alright, but Aeris you have to be quiet."_

_The little girl swallowed her hiccups peering up at a face as frightened as her own. The figures rounded the corner and he stepped…away, pulling her into grey light. The child would've cried out, but her throat was dry from her earlier emptying tears. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the scary people. They were going to take her, drag her away, and stick her with needles until she died…but they kept walking. Nobody turned or seemed to notice the two children standing there. The hall had turned to empty hue as if even white had been leeched from the world. Aeris squirmed because her ears were silent, no soft song flooding her mind. Looking up at the boy, she suddenly forgot for his emerald eyes bested the greyness. They bored into the blind figures, and what she saw cut whimper loose. One of them stopped and peered around, and Sephiroth nearly crushed her hand. The squeak of a shoe was deemed the culprit, so they continued down the hall for meetings and deadlines demand. _

_His breath came out with sighing rush and the world knew color again. The boy loosened his hand in apology, but Aeris was smiling up. "I liked that. That hiding. It was like playing a game. They couldn't see us at all!" She lowered to whisper as his finger again touched upon his lips._

"_It doesn't work all the time. In certain places I've been caught before…" Sephiroth let it trail away before leading her on again. The hallway split into long corridors, and the pale boy stopped with a frown. "What does your mother look like, Aeris?"_

"_Like me." She pressed close to his side. He cast that bright gaze down each direction, pursing his lips as he thought._

"_I think I saw her when I…left my room. She was going into Lab 56." He looked down at the child in sudden relief. "It's locked of course, but the door has a window." The little girl jumped up and down as Sephiroth held up a palm. "But you have to be quiet, Aeris. We'll get caught and you don't want that."_

_She shook her head, face filled with terror, and he squeezed her hand gently this time. They had to turn left where windows winked, crawling beneath if there were occupants. Aeris had no interest. She wanted her mother, and Sephiroth knew not to look. They had to "hide" a few times more to her delight but to his worried chagrin. If it didn't work, hell would be his due. He didn't know what would happen to her. Some of the passers walked quickly with anger, glaring this way and that. They were looking for him, and Sephiroth swallowed filling his belly with endless cold._

_The labs were numbered in arbitrary fashion, but he'd lived here all his life. Lab 2 was neighbors with lab 301 with no rhyme or reason between. Sephiroth's thoughts turned quick morbid to wonder if death had ordered each name. They were always scrubbed clean, but he could still smell the undercurrent of blood._

_56 waited opposite a black window that not even the stark lights could breach. The corridor was dark much further down. No one there to disturb the light sensors. Security doors blocked any hope of getting to the outside. More complex codes he couldn't breach not like the one on his door._

_ "Is my mommy in there?" Aeris's voice quivered again like a harp string wound too taut. She stood on her toes, but the window was high, and Sephiroth could smell tears brewing. He narrowed his eyes to dim down his light and threw a side glance through the glass. There was a woman there and a scientist. His teeth came together tight. She looked nervous, but that was expected. Most subjects here usually did. His heart knocked hard against his ribs, and he pulled his face away._

_ "I wanna see my mommy!" Aeris exclaimed to his grimace, but the door was thick to block the sound. _

"_Okay," he whispered, "but you still have to be quiet. Can you do that, Aeris?"_

_She nodded so hard her bangs spilled in mess over her gleaming face. Jumping up and down, the little girl tried to see, but the window was just like her light. Sephiroth caught her in mid-spring, lifting the child to her prize. He was very strong for an eleven year old boy and held her up without any effort._

_Aeris framed her face in her hands and made sure she didn't kick. She said she'd be quiet. That was too easy. Ifalna had asked her that often. Her mother looked scared, but she was just talking, and that weird man was writing stuff down. She'd be so proud and be so excited that Aeris had found her at last. Her new friend had brought her, a very strange boy with odd eyes but such pretty hair. Maybe he could help them find this "outside," her mother had promised her._

_Sephiroth kept a vigilant stare alternating left and right. The child was stock still never once squirming within his unwavering grip. He'd have to persuade her back to her cell, though the thought twisted his face in disgust. There was no escape and even this small defiance could leave them both writhing in pain. The thump at his ribs echoed again, because she couldn't take his punishment. He was…special in some undisclosed way beyond just his emerald cat eyes._

"_Aeris?" he whispered at the moment her scream pierced his ears like a thousand alarms. Startled and scared, Sephiroth dropped her, and the child crashed to the floor. She wasn't there long as frantic fists and feet attacked the thick steel door. "What are you doing?!" the pale boy hissed, trying to drag her away. Her screams never ceased, a high ululation filled with both horror and fear. She clutched at the door knob, and Sephiroth would hurt her if he pulled too hard. Within the wail, he glanced through the window, and bile corroded the back of his throat._

_Then hands appeared from nowhere tearing the children apart. The boy never even realized so drowned in her screams that the alarms had been going off. He didn't try to fight. That would just make it worse, but then she reached for his hand through her tears. Ragged cries proved they were hurting her, and Sephiroth saw red through green. He freed one hand and twisted a wrist to a hearty curse and a slap. The blow didn't matter. He wouldn't bruise, but it was disorienting. A firmer grip trapped that arm, and one he might've taken. He had to try as they were dragged away in opposite directions, but he couldn't turn his head so tightly held, and at last the pale boy gave up. Being beaten was nothing. That could be endured, but being caught was far, far worse. Now they'd know that he could escape and…measures would be taken._

_The little girl's muffled screams still shook the walls as she reached and clawed for that door. Her mother was in there being hurt, but the scary people were far too strong. They'd take her back to the cold, dark cell and stab her to death with needles, but Aeris was wrong for she was roughly thrown into a room with a pitiless mirror. Angry hands shackled her tiny wrists in manacles far too tight. They pinched tender skin, and the little girl wailed for her mother shut away in the dark. She pulled against the chain and felt her wrist slide with wet slicker and more acrid than sweat. Time flows slow for one so young, but strength bleeds out far quicker._

_Curled in a tight ball, she saw neither the light nor the violent hysterics of a mother's rage. Scooped up she screamed at the tug on her wrists until a gentle hand cleared her face. She buried it into welcoming bosom and knew nothing more than that relief…_

Aeris was weeping on her knees bound still by that long rusted chain. In the blur of tears time had sheared away, and the weeping child still curled within. Ifalna had never been so angry or so terrified. She'd refused to cooperate, refused to release her terrified, crying daughter. What that cost her Aeris would never know, as the flickering lights brought her back to the now. The door of her prison was long gone with only rusted hinges for memory. Standing up the flower maid bit back a cry to the glass that had cut through her dress. _You still stupid child, _she thought viciously bending to pull the splinters out. Her dress was dark enough to hide the blood, but it still flecked her fingers.

She didn't see it, the shadow that stirred from its rightful place in the dark. Bound to the past as she picked at the pain that went deeper than slivered shards. Mako seeped like bitter poison staining his fair skin, and the sword scraped on the ground like an echo of the damned. His step was measured almost painful, but her vision lifted his lips.

"Aerisss…" he called and the Cetra looked up, catching the joy in her throat. Green swallowed the darkness, and when it touched her, it was all the maid could see. The Planet wailed at her, calling her daughter, using her mother's voice. Aeris ignored it not feeling what dribbled down into her boots.

In that dark the sword slowly whispered, _"I remember you…"_

* * *

_Author's Note: The name origin for the chapter title is from the illustrious Adrienne Rich, and is from her book of the same title _What Is Found There, _a volume I read years ago for one of my college courses. Her verse is of the flowing type that I love, so I am overjoyed I was able to pay homage to a fantastic poet who also has quite a lovely name...spelled the same, too_ ;)

_Hopefully I have accurately depicted the behavior of a three year old. As I've never had one I can only go off of what I've minimally observed or had related to me. For the meaning of Sephiroth's name, if there are any theologians or Qabalists reading, I know it means "emanation." I've done some study on the Qabalah/Tree of Life and am in fact currently reading Fortune's_ Mystical Qabalah _right now, and I took some liberties and extended that to mean "God's light." It seemed fitting. Aeris is actually Latin for "air" (if Google Translate is not lying to me), which is another reason I had to use that version of her moniker in this story. That and the "shadow's" hissing it at the end of the Chapter 21 wouldn't have been possible, and I _really _wanted that._

_Chapter 22 **Blood of the Ancients **will be posted next Friday August 14._

_Thank you again for your comments, favorites and follows!_


	22. Blood of the Ancients

"…**your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid."  
-George RR Martin "A Clash of Kings"**

**Chapter 22  
Blood of the Ancients**

With near open arms the flower girl flew where the only light was virulent green. Alabaster skin mocked a still statue save for the sword at his side. In the space of a breath it was waiting in darkness, and Aeris's rush was too swift. A tiny sound escaped her throat as her heart thrummed to memory's pain. True steel pierced the straps at his chest, and both shadow and pale dissolved. Her guardian stepped forward washed over with darkness to come out so pure in the gloom, while the sensors so ancient were reactive enough to show what was real in their sight. Wane light still paled to sorrow filled eyes as he banished the sword to between. Aeris froze in place, swallowing the horror for what had almost occurred. He wanted her warm and soft in his arms, but could not move for fear she would run. That sight would break him, but he wouldn't die, and the pain would go on and on.

"It's me, little flower. I promise it's me…" Emerald bled without shedding a tear.

"Is it…is it really?" She clutched at her dress, and her breath made the dusty air dance. The motes shivered in light as the space in her bones tightened the skin of her back. Then the Planet sang softly, _Yes, _in her ear before chiding its willful child. Sephiroth bowed his head but not before Aeris saw sorrow's relief on his face. Still holding her skirt, she completed the rush thinking, _If this is death, then be it so._

The Great General caught her tight in his embrace as her sobs echoed in the dim. _Don't hold her too tight, don't hurt her, you monster, _he thought as his arms locked around. It was soothing in thrum…her soft heart, the song he had once sought to still. _It's better than what I hear right now, the chorus of blood and screams. _He shut his eyes hard and concentrated on her, of summer so deep in the ground. _I can still hear them screaming, screaming forever as the flames eat away at their flesh…_

"How do you always find me?" Aeris whispered.

"Your heart…it calls my name."

"Does it really?" She pulled back to witness the grieving angel's face. The words at his lips could only bring pain so he slanted them over hers, hoping her sweetness in filling his mouth would empty his tongue of its rue. The kiss pulled them both back into the present where the past was a mere ghost to howl. Sephiroth slid his arms fully around her, never wanting to release his rose. Her body melted into his chest as she drowned within silver seas.

"Time isn't our friend…" Aeris murmured so sadly against his lips.

"We have time enough. Fate may be empty, but it can wait a few moments more." He stood up tall, shaking his hair to shroud her in moonlight and ashes. The flickering lights were caught in each strand, and Aeris breathed in the scent once thought lost.

"You're here now, which means I'm safe. I'm safe again in your arms."

Sephiroth took her little hands running his fingers over her wrists. He let one palm cup her soft cheek, and the flower girl leaned towards his warmth.

"Are you whole, Aeris?" he asked and the note in his voice tried to hide bitter guilt. "Are you well?"

"I couldn't be better." She kissed his palm, and he near jerked it away as though burnt. "I'm here with you."

"Here." The low voice was flat as he lifted her chin. "In this cesspit…with me. I never should've let you go."

"You were trying to protect me," she insisted, ever stubborn to his remorse.

"And through that act put you in danger. I should've known. What waits below is tormenting us with shadows."

The flower girl shuddered and squeezed his hands so warm and solid and strong. "You saved me again. I know you did…when the elevator fell." She looked down. "Your poor hands…"

"My hands are fine, little flower." He held one up and her awe brought the slightest of smiles. "It would take more than that to rend skin from flesh. I'm just relieved that you weren't harmed."

The Cetra leaned forward against Sephiroth's chest as his arms enfolded her tight. He slid his palms up her back with jolting pain as he touched the spot.

"Oh Aeris," he whispered, "I broke my promise. I lied to you, little rose."

"How did you lie?" She lifted her head, curious without any fear. He looked just as lovely drowning in pain as he did within utter elation. That thought made her sad as his hair shivered forward half obscuring his face.

"I said I'd protect you."

"What happened wasn't your fault."

The general turned away, piercing beyond with the light that never diminished. He tightened his jaw behind the mask and ignored the incessant scratching. "I have no purpose, little flower, beyond being your protector."

"Sephiroth stop! You know that's not true." Aeris glared up, but he couldn't face her.

"It's the truest thing I know. Down here in this place there's nothing but ghosts, ghosts and memory…"

The flower girl retook his hands, laying lips to his palms and each finger. Her guardian sealed his eyes to that as Mako light threaded each lash.

"You kiss my hands as if you didn't know what they'd done…as if they hadn't shed your innocent blood…as if they were worthy of your touch."

"Please stop," she begged him, causing more guilt to blossom in his heart. "Don't go to that place where light cannot reach and love cannot ever find you."

The once greatest general fell to his knees, and Aeris's whimper was lost in the dark. He pressed his brow to hers with eyes still shut as the discord of claws grew around. "I watched everything burn and I reveled in it. I saw my past laid bare."

Summer shimmered to unheld tears and she mimicked their lines on his cheeks. Her own vision quivered behind her eyes, held tight at the gate of her lips.

"The fire in my heart will never go out. There's no escape from the flames." Behind pale lids they danced and twirled in horrible beauty and light. Sephiroth clutched at her slim shoulders for she was real while the ancient past writhed. "I can't remember their faces, Aeris. I never even knew their names. They are cursing me forever and more through the ages, and I never even knew who they were…"

"Oh Sephiroth…" she whispered, brushing hair from his stricken face. At touch of her fingers, his eyes opened wide, and the past shivered slim as thorn. That's where he was. That's where he dwelled as surely as she'd seen her own. The flower maid had no more fear for the fallen angel at her feet. She slipped her arms around his neck as he burned with those long dead shades.

"I turned around, do you know that? I turned and walked back through the flames. Do you know, little flower? Do you know why? Do you know why I turned?" She said no word but smoothed his hair where nary a tangle would form. He still faced forward with eyes unseeing save for a world made of ash. "Even as the town turned to cinders, I could hear them screaming, and if they could scream, they needed to be killed. That's why…that's why I turned. That's why I walked back through the fire to play a song of blood. You have to know this." He pulled suddenly back to catch her face, and the flower girl sobbed for his grief. "You have to know…you have to know what I am. I'm so sorry, Aeris. I'm so very sorry."

"You have _nothing _to be sorry for," she wept and her tears soaked his fingers.

"I have everything to be sorry for." He released her face to clasp her hands as though begging her to pray. "I tortured your friend…"

"I…know, Sephiroth. There's nothing you did that I don't know about."

The once Great General shook his head as though all of her knowledge were shadows. "You don't understand. I _tortured _him, Aeris. I taunted him with your death. It was all a game, a twisted amusement. I convinced him that it was his fault. You have to know this. You have to understand so you can hate me as you should…"

"That wasn't you!" Her voice so small shook the corridors and empty labs. "And I know all this just as I know it doesn't matter anymore."

"It does matter, Aeris. It's all that does. What I did. What I wrought. What I killed."

The flower girl pursed her lips as sorrow still flowed from her summer eyes. "What else did you do? You rescued me. Does that mean nothing at all?"

"I owed you then. I owe you still. I owe the dead and slain. I can't pay them back. I can't change this. There's nothing I can do." His head fell forward to meet her brow. "And you. You…who I dare to call _my _little flower, who I dared to touch. What I did to you…"

"I didn't die that day, Sephiroth," she told him.

"No…I killed you personally. I wanted your friends to hurt."

"But now _you _suffer."

"I deserve to, Aeris."

"No one deserves this." Aeris pulled at her hands and he let her go, while the Cetra wept enough for both. Not that this lessened his pain in the least for she saw it more profound. She brushed her knuckle against his cheek, marble skin so smooth. "What you endured and what you saw. Madness and anger and pain. But for the want of a mother's name, how many lives would've been saved? All of these horrors. All of this death could've been stopped if you'd known the truth." She touched his face, and the general couldn't help it. He had to look at her, this tiny rose, who not only forgave him, but loved him more than light. It was more than a gift. It was beyond life. It was better than air to breathe. Then she smiled. She actually smiled as the tears for him dried on her face. "Do you know what you did for me so long ago? The very first day we met…"

He shook his head, utterly lost, for his memory held only pain. Aeris slid the hair from his epaulets so he tossed the strands clearing his face. She rested her hands on that armor so shining that still paled to the shield of his skin.

"I was alone and only three…smaller than I am now. They'd…taken my mother and left me in darkness…left me in darkness alone, but then you came bringing your light. I'd never seen glowing cat eyes before…" She held her palm up to their gleam, where it lined it like emerald filigree. "…and I must admit I was afraid, but you shut them for me and spoke to me gentle, took my hand and led me to find her. We just found more horror." Her little hand fell, but Sephiroth caught it soft clutched to his heart. "That's what we're chasing…chasing right now," she whispered to close creeping dark.

"I think that it's more chasing us, little flower. Beyond our nightmares it seethes. It's calling our names, whispering our stories, and all we can do is reply."

A tiny sound escaped her throat and Aeris jerked her hand in his grasp. Sephiroth released it in that instant, gaze narrowing on her face. She gripped her wrist where chains tight clung and needles still pierced her veins.

"Aeris, what is it?" He rose to his feet so the only shadow she faced was his. The maid couldn't answer with her lip in her teeth and new tears forced from her eyes. Her guardian pulled her to his chest where she buried her face in black leather. "What haunts you, little flower?" he begged her. "What horrors do you see?" She turned her head and blurry sight was followed by emerald heat. It fell on jagged, sallow glass, and Sephiroth swept her up. Walking back to what caused her heart's ache as the shards crunched under his heels.

The flickering light within that small room illumined the rusty links, and abject wrath made his skin whiter and thinned his lips to a line. Taking a step he set Aeris down away from the soon to be carnage. He didn't even bother with the door, but stepped through what remained of that window. Crumbling glass rained over him like old and bitter snow. Crystalline clear against moonlight and ashes with nary a cut on frost skin. He lifted the manacles where rust mimicked blood and crushed them in his fist. Then reaching forward, he gripped at the base before ripping the chain from the wall. It groaned in weak protest, but time had left little for metal save for rot. A chunk of the cell was torn out as well, the stone within white as bone. The walls were still sound, and all that now mattered was that chain being crushed in his hands. The general flicked his fingers and dusted his palms so embered ash froze in still air. His lip curled in disgust peering around at what had presumed to hold her. Mere particles now and this tiny room would one day be crushed by time. Shaking out the moonlit mane, he freed it of any stray shards. The glass sparkled sadly against leather black where it drifted like far stars unseen. Returning to Aeris, Sephiroth caught the maid as she flew into his arms.

"It's alright, little one." He stroked her free bangs that brushed against now tears of joy.

"I've wanted to do that for a hundred years…" she got out between her sobs. Silver and chestnut mingled in light as Sephiroth tightened his arms.

"I wish they all were alive, little flower…so that I could kill them again. This time for you-"

"I don't want that." She forced her face lift to his so somber. "I'd take no joy from that bloodshed, and neither, I think, would you." He curled his finger against her cheek, and Aeris kissed his palm.

_I won't let myself lose her. _He fought hard with fate to wrest this victory from its clutch. Picking Aeris up in his right arm, Sephiroth gripped the sword at his left. The Cetra barely had time to register as she leaned against the solid pauldron.

"I should've done this before, little flower, and never let you out of my grasp…"

The corridor ended in darkness, but the old sensors rallied in light. It was testament to their build that they'd lasted this long so neither could fault them in fail. Down short stairs where the railing was rotted, he carried the flower maid. At times the only light was his and the only sound was scratching. She hid her face against his neck when she feared what the shadows would show. The labs disappeared so that open rooms with tables revealed their truth. Straps had been chewed or worn away, but the Cetra knew what they'd been for.

"It's calling me, Aeris," Sephiroth murmured.

"I know…I can hear it, too."

Emerald drew streaks through the dimming dark, lighting ash-silver hair. Before them stood a vaulted door like a banker's treasure house, but they knew no treasure lay beyond, and Sephiroth banished the sword. Curling his fingers around the wheel lock, he laid his brow to hers damp with dew. "Shall we go then, you and I, this one last time?"

"I didn't bring my book…" she answered.

"That's alright, little flower. I remember…I remember it for you."

He turned the vault lock, speaking those words to fill the darkness with beauty. Aeris recited with him as if their memories were tied, as if his voice laid the verse bright before. The door squealed like rats trapped forever inside and their claws ripped against his ears. Hanging lights swung in the open space of what once was an operating theater. The great vaulted door led onto a landing where circular stairs wound down. Off to the right were long dark windows where observers could watch like gods. Sephiroth's boots made no sound on the stairs that were composed of cracks, but between the fissures came those claws in desperate struggle to escape. Aeris clung tight to his neck, shaking so hard the terror almost made her still. She refused to shut her eyes, though memory paled her for what she'd soon see.

"There's something terribly, terribly wrong...I can't hear the Planet."

A scattering of stone crumbled down the steps as he peered to what lay below. Emerald was sharp and more cutting than diamond, but the bottom remained like mist. "As it was in Sector 2," he said half to himself.

Aeris nodded and hard clasped her hands. They were tangled in moonlight as she sent her prayer through the stillness that did now surround. "This is even below the slums near the heart of the world. I should be able to hear it clear, but there's only silence."

Sephiroth stroked her shivering skin, but could not bring himself to lie. "It knew I would seek it. It knew I would come…"

"We have no other choice."

"You had a choice." He leapt over a portion that had succumbed to age and rot. Aeris peered up to the black windows above, forever watching her still.

"You know I didn't…what else was my purpose?"

"To be happy, my little flower."

She kissed his cheek and despite it all, the general felt joy in that brush. Aeris leaned her brow to his temple and tried to imagine her church, but without the Planet the image was nothing but memory. The Cetra still prayed to that vision in white, hoping that it would still reach.

"When they first discovered the…abomination," he told her, "this is where it was brought. Deep down below where no one could disturb…where they could do as they pleased. This room is soundproof, and once we are lower, you'll see seats as though for a…performance."

"How do you know so much about this place?" she asked in fear of the answer.

Sephiroth scanned the blurriness below. "I was brought here before."

Despite the cold metal against her chest, Aeris squeezed him harder, and the Great General realized in his sadness that she was trying to hold him. His ear was close by and his hearing supreme so she barely needed to whisper. "You know you're the one who helped us escape…who distracted the guards long enough."

Sephiroth said no word to glare at the steps, which now dared to yawn in deep chasm. Age and rot had crumbled the stone to gathering rubble beneath. He easily jumped, spreading his wing to sail over the emptiness. Stagnant air stirred the night black fronds, and Aeris shut her eyes just to savor. Her mind gave her mercy to let her forget for one instant the distance to sky. If it still existed and wasn't blood black with another world's corruption. Shaking the flower girl forced open her eyes. This was no time for dreams.

"Why didn't you come with us?" He landed so lightly like dancing on leaves, and the great wing disappeared.

"They told me I'd die without the Mako injections."

"Do you think that was a lie, too?" She gave a little cry as beneath them the stairway sharply crumbled away. Immediately clutching her with both arms, the general made grace his sidestep. She cleared his face since his hands were full, and when the ground was stable under again Sephiroth kissed her brow. His eye remained open and cast towards below for now was not the time for indulgence.

"They gave me partial truth. When I…read about how I was created, the injections were a large part. They helped give me my tireless strength and were needed up to a point. What point that was was long before then. Half truth is far worse than a lie." He frowned but shook his head against. Half truths and lies made up his life. "Without them, they said, I might've grown sick and died in the polluted slum air. But even without this they would've found me, their most coveted prize. The slums would've burned, but there I'd remain, glittering pale in the ashes."

"Is it all lies and illusions?" Aeris asked. "Onto forever and more?"

"No. Not all of it, little flower," he told her regretful, "the terrible things are true."

"I don't believe that."

He sighed with saddest smile for her stubbornness endured.

"What about light?"

"Light is for the pure."

Aeris tilted her head, swimming through emerald sorrow. "Light is for anyone willing to claim it. We can be more than the sum of our grief."

Mildew veins rose up the walls as further down smelled of warm rot. It overrode the vestiges of Mako that had reigned above. The lights flickered in dull and Aeris was grateful that he would be able to see. Terror froze her blood as it quickened her heart, but of one thing she had no doubt. He would protect her. That spoke through his skin, an unwavering determination.

The pulse of her fear set Sephiroth's jaw and shaped unblinking eyes to cut. He wished then that he'd been forsworn so she was safe while he spiraled toward doom. But he'd made a vow. He'd promised a promise, and he had done it to her. _It was made in blood and blood can't be broken. It can only be spilled._

"When we reach the bottom, I'll put you down. Stay behind me, Aeris." It was his general's voice honed to command, and she jumped to the heat of his eyes. "I won't have you hurt…not ever again." He turned away to glare ever down.

"Alright…I'll obey." She tried to smile. "I'll obey my general this once." It fell on wane lips that quivered to silence.

The last of the steps were long rotted away, but that descent was nothing to him. All the way up the stairwell dissolved even to eyes that could see for miles. Instruments and devices used to cut life were strewn upon ancient concrete. They were yellow and curled like the Cetra's old lilies, and would soon return to the same dust. A power beyond what they'd pulled from the earth prickled along their skins. Tendrils of chestnut and tendrils of ash lifted in heavy hair. The little maid blinked as her hands came loose for the sight was strange as summer snow.

The girl seemed familiar, black dress and black hair dyed silver at the tips. Her garb was tattered, her lace gloves were torn as if she'd crawled on her belly through glass. She was facing a cavern, a great yawning maw, and Aeris shuddered as Sephiroth hissed. That sound jerked her head up and breath caught in fear to her guardian's narrowed thorn eyes. She remembered her name on the shadow's lips. _But he's solid and warm and real. _This litany repeated, becoming her prayer as the general put her down. Besides a raised platform great enough to hold something foul that'd been ripped from the earth.

From this far below those windows were pits for the gods to send dark from above. Her lip curled in horror. The residue still remained, staining the air that Aeris breathed. The past was gnawing, ever gnawing, eating away at the future. The Cetra squeezed her fist to her breast that hid a dearer darkness. Softest fronds and sweetest scent as she brushed the feathery edge. Her skin remembered the cool of the air as they rose above the clouds. The last thing she wanted was to look up. For within this girl who'd mocked and sneered, the future was already devoured.

"I knew you'd come." Her voice shivered hollow. "An abomination in angel's skin."

Silver hair shushed as he lowered his head in neon upon this sight. His flower felt nothing, but that pulse tried to tie itself to his very heart's beat. The girl turned from the opening where reverberations of scratching echoed throughout all worlds. Her face was cold as winter tears more frozen than the north. From her eyes a strange pulse hummed, a low and gleaming red. Sephiroth quelled the frightful urge to draw his sword and end her pain. There was no guarantee the horror would die, and only the pawn will bleed. It was an imperfect fit for she had nothing of it. She bore no corrupt cells. Her flesh screamed in silence. Her bones cracked in pain, and she forced her hands not to claw.

"Imminent darkness. Black winged death. The Great General…Sephiroth."

His glamour was broken and emerald outpoured uncut by those glorious lashes. It flooded the blackness within that foul tunnel, but not even Mako could make dark ignite.

"Tis a dangerous thing," Sephiroth warned, "to call upon an angel."

"Tis a dangerous gift you bring." Her head jerked towards Aeris, and such hate pushed the flower girl back. Her eyes had grown dry from staring too long and trying to place this memory.

The girl swayed forward, forcing her legs to move or bear broken bones. "The angel of death…you wouldn't come now with a scythe or even a sword. No, you'd come with a whisper," she made her voice match. "How else do you lure the most timid souls into your deadly grasp?" She pointed straight to Aeris's heart, and Sephiroth stepped blocking that path. Wrath he thought gone boiled inside but for a far purer purpose. The hole in the wall behind howled sepulchral, and a raised finger split her lips with a hush.

The Cetra reached forward and caught tight his hand, the right for she wasn't unwise. Only his fingers moved to close her fragile grip within. She still stayed behind, keeping her promise, obeying her general's commands. She was afraid not to, terrified of what only stood because it was held. The name came to her from far memory, and "Phaedra Levanah…" it was.

Sephiroth turned his head just slight to keep both of them in his gaze. "You." His eyes sliced over the girl in shock he hid with scrutiny. "The girl from Sector 2. The…'fangirl' with the shop."

She glanced towards the tunnel, tearing hands through her hair where the whiteness now grew from the root. "Yes. You do remember me. You answered my beck and call." She found the Cetra in blood again, and his hand clenched with want of the sword. "You did what I asked and brought her to me."

"I did nothing for you," he spat. Aeris's palm grew slick with fear, as her other gripped his fingers.

The changed girl laughed behind her lips, sealing her eyes as if in relief. "My vengeance unfolds like a bitter rose to bring me what I needed."

"Vengeance," he whispered, "vengeance for what?"

"Fire and blood and death."

The flames hot within him rose up engorged, cracking the shell of his wrath. Forever beneath his grief always waited, raw as an unwashed wound. Beyond agony his flower hard clutched his hand, deaf to the Planet but not to his pain.

"Yes," Phaedra whispered swaying forward boring red into green. "I wasn't there in Nibelheim, but my grandmother was. My mother was here in the slums below dreaming of life in the sun. She'd thought it be better to live in this city, and have a chance to be of the elite." Phaedra's face jerked hard towards Aeris, full of hatred that could not be told. The Cetra refused to turn away from this enemy that could've been more ancient than she. Trying to see the seam of where the horror ended and this poor child began, but Sephiroth stricken realized this hate belonged to her alone.

"It never would happen," Phaedra continued while the tunnel dark chuckled behind. The general snapped his gaze back up to that as the wall around turned silent grey. "My mother realized so she packed up her bags to go back to her mountain home. She told me the story…so many times when I shivered and cried in the dark. The slums were easier to escape back then if you had someplace to go…but she didn't." Phaedra flung the final word, and Sephiroth bowed his head to the blow. "Her once home had been turned to ash, and near everyone had died. She was trapped in the squalors beneath the grand, and I was born into that blight. But fire can't destroy." Zeal lifted her face. "It can only transform, and it made me what I am." She held out her arms to welcome the hate that twisted her face up towards his. The general wished he could burn in that light. That the flames would immolate his soul and make ash his winter skin.

"Please forgive me," he whispered hiding behind his otherworldly hair, but there was no skein that could shield such guilt let alone capture it.

"You will never be forgiven," Phaedra hissed. "You will always be one of the damned." He took that like a strike amidst hard battle, his teeth cutting against their edges. "You're an abomination. That's all you'll ever be. Your fate was only to fall."

And thus he did fall drowning in guilt enough for a thousand men. His little flower cried out in horror as his hand slipped from hers and danger prickled her skin to the bone. The girl draped in black circled them round in arrogance to view the pale fallen. Aeris leaned on his shoulder where pauldrons still gleamed brighter than sealed Mako eyes. Her breath came in rush tying her tongue on the many words it held.

"So _now _you see with different eyes, and you can't take the pain." Phaedra's full lit up in glee at the torture rent from those words. His left hand clutched hard at his heart, but the only thing leaking was light.

"Stop it!" Aeris's voice echoed through this chamber where protests were always made mute.

"Let her, little rose," his voice answered soft. "I deserve every ounce of hate…"

"No, you don't."

Sephiroth looked up in almost hope to her so adamant, stubborn, and brave. Pink ruled her cheeks and tears held her eyes, but they did not reign over her voice. "What you did…was not your will. You've proven that to me, and you…" She whirled to Phaedra's amusement. "You have suffered, I agree. The slums are no place for anyone, especially people like you and me, but he was another victim…of the madness affecting you now…" As if she just realized Aeris stepped back keeping her hand on her guardian's shoulder.

The general forced himself face who he'd wronged over a century ago. _It never resolves. It never is cleaned. What I've done will echo through time… _"I'm sorry," he whispered lifting his face. He deserved to see utter hatred, and Phaedra was not remiss in that gift, eyes bright as that long lost blaze.

"'Sorry,'" she repeated with voice flat and dead. "What does 'sorry' do?"

Aeris wanted to scream, _It does all! _but had no right in another's pain.

"It doesn't change the past." Phaedra peered over her shoulder to the darkness beyond. "It doesn't bring back what was burnt down. It didn't rescue my mother from the slums. She died in pain and fear and blood, but I was strong enough to endure. Resourceful enough to rent that shop when I became obsessed with you…"

Sephiroth could only stare defeated again by his past. He smelled the tears on his little flower's face and wished he could offer her ease, but he no more deserved to touch that rose than he deserved this child's forgiveness.

"Yes, it's true. I was obsessed. I wanted to revive the Silver Elite. It seemed more than fitting since the latter was the title that my mother had always craved, but I wanted defiance so I named us the dangerous 'Followers of Seph.' We met in secret below my shop where the walls seemed to swallow the sound. It went on much farther than the top would allow, and one day I took a light and kept on. Down, down, down it went into the earth, and it was there that _she _came to me."

"'She,'" he hissed despite all sorrow his lip curled up in revulsion. "You call it 'she' as if it were human and not a horror seeped down from the stars."

"I had nothing else!" Phaedra snapped, and the darkness rumbled behind. Aeris stepped further behind Sephiroth, and her fear made the general rise. Looking down at the girl's evangelical zeal made his pupils cut sharper in green. "She knew my woes. She knew my pain. She knew what you had done. I would've worshipped you, but she reminded me how you had stolen my future."

Phaedra spun around and held a hand toward the dark, voice echoing back in sepulchral reveals. "I found my way here, climbed my way up through the black labs destitute. Then I found _you._" She turned back around, and her skin writhed with the taint of corruption. Sephiroth's face was blank as a stone, and Aeris half covered hers. "I did have friends in the slums so foul who were gleeful to what I'd discovered." She smiled and he again wanted the sword to cut right through her teeth. "You fetched quite a good price. I was able to purchase the shop I could only then rent."

The only warmth that filled the fallen came from Aeris's hand. She felt no cold emanate from his skin, but it filled him from the core. "That's how I ended up in that cage…"

"Yes, so you can imagine my utter surprise that day you came asking about your 'true mother." She scoffed at the words, and winter did burn though it did not sear the flower girl's hand.

"Have a care how you speak…you lied to me."

"The only lie you believe is of love."

Aeris placed her hand on his arm and prayed hard he would not be so tricked. The Planet was silent, but still she sent plea that though mute it still could hear. Sephiroth glanced down to the flower maid, then back up in almost amusement. Even with a heart ripped bare to its threads of this he would never doubt. Her love for him would fill the abyss between the weary worlds.

"Do you think your 'mother' actually loved you?" And pale skin turned whiter than ash. "She was only a vessel with only one purpose." Phaedra laughed aloud. "She never even knew your name. Your horror never graced her eyes. She couldn't stand to look at you. She left you because she knew what you were, but this…" She passed a hand before her face, and he stiffened as Aeris tried not to scream. "…has seen you true."

"It saw what it made…" His low voice did crack and the light in his eyes bled to pale. "A monster, a horror, a darkness to drown out the world. Something no righteous mother could ever love…"

"Yes, that's what you are. The purpose you're meant. Imminent darkness come again..." She half rushed forward, but a flash from his eyes stopped Phaedra before she could touch. That didn't keep her hate from finding the Cetra and near burning her with its heat. "We were here before the filth that dares to crawl upon this world."

"Not before her," Sephiroth said, peering over to his little rose staring up. He blinked once and then turned bearing truth even within Mako eyes. "Her people were here first."

"Her people," hissed Phaedra throwing her glare hard, but Aeris neither moved nor flinched, concentrating on her general. "Her people were weak and inconsequential."

"Then why do you fear her so?" The girl stepped back and the horror howled, creasing darkness upon her face.

"We won't once she's dead."

"She was dead before and she still defeated you."

The terrible words reached Aeris from beyond, the promise of her death. Her little hands pressed his arm unafraid no matter what soon would come.

"This time though…" Phaedra turned again to the whispering hole in the wall. "The world turned without will keep her in her place."

The Cetra snapped her face toward the girl, her terrors repeated below. "What do you mean 'the world turned without?'"

Phaedra didn't move or even acknowledge, and Sephiroth snarled, "Answer her."

Despite the foulness carried within, the general's voice still made her jump. The part of her not utterly coiled around the maddening folds. "The place you call the 'in between.' Didn't you ever wonder what it was?" Sephiroth only followed her with sharpened eyes, hiding that question below. "When _she _came here so long ago, a piece of her world came along. Bound within cells, carried in memory of what time had long eaten away. Only a vestige to linger without and only those with the cells could step in."

His face burned with emerald. It filled every hollow as his heart knocked each rib out of place. His flower's hands slid down the leather while the blood in her veins ran in fear. It wasn't paranoia. It wasn't even that monster that made that greyness foul. Aeris's soul had always known that was the darkest path.

Sephiroth shifted his gaze to the tunnel but saw only the horrible truth. "It gnawed and gnawed until it was destroyed…and then it sought another. That shadow world. That 'in between' is all that's left of where it was born." He cut his eyes over, black slivers in seas of emerald that never ends. "What of the monster…what of that beast that, too, sought her innocent blood?"

A low chuckle filled Phaedra's throat and the general scowled to be so mocked. "It was ordered to find her and bring an end to the threat." She sneered angry at the admission. Aeris breathed deep surprisingly calm for how many had wished for her death.

"But it only could do that if she were brought in, and you lost your chance in that first failure." His glower contained all of the wrath and fear at the thought of her demise, but the tiny hand suddenly threaded in his cooled the fire beneath.

"It doesn't matter anymore," the girl in black said, "soon the world will turn without and the darkness will swallow all down."

"So you would turn this world into that?!" Aeris cried in fury unfelt. The Planet might be silenced, but she certainly was not, and only Sephiroth's grip kept her still.

"That will never happen." He stayed facing dark.

Phaedra laughed, "You really don't see. You're part of that darkness, and you can be redeemed." She looked the maid up and down in contempt. "All you need do is fulfill your sole purpose and spill Ancient blood once more. When the world is in shadow it no more will speak and call this weak child to aid." The trapped girl stepped forward, trailing black threads of her garb that had been so torn. "You _will _obey else endure such suffering you'll beg to be back in your cage."

The wrath drained out of Sephiroth's face as the general shook his head. "I have seen through the eyes of the darkness at the heart of this world, the very one that twists your bones. The moment I was born, my life was to suffer to make me what I am. I have been dead and trapped in the swell that will never name me its own. I called down the fire from heaven and was cast down to rot in the cold. These threats you throw are as empty as fate. What is torture and pain to me?" He raised his left hand still empty of steel. "You gave me nothing but lies."

"Those lies would've led you to ultimate glory."

"And that would've been a lie, too. Playing a god led me to be fallen, but now I remember my place. It is better to be burned by the light of truth than to live in the shadow of falsehood." He took a step forward and Phaedra slid back toward the night that lived in that passage. "We spend most of our lives running from the past and running from ourselves. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of blindness, and I've dined too long on despair."

From his right side the pain erupted so Aeris was shadowed in black. To answer the Cetra pulled forth her feather, clutching the frond within her small hands.

"Come forth, you monster!" Sephiroth's voice rang through the darkness behind. "I call you, so horror to horror we stand."

Phaedra's eyes widened in glee as shadow bubbled on her skin. Her lips split apart to mortal flesh pain, but the corruption drowned out her screams. Sephiroth could no more drive her back for Aeris now stood before. Tiny and frail with her hands clasped around the residue of his dark. If he looked down then he would falter from what he had to do. The Masamune was waiting, hungry for blood, and the pain in his eyes dimmed their brightness. It was only a moment, less than a blink, unnoticed by seething red orbs.

"You desire the blood of the Ancients?" he offered. "Come and take it if you wish."

The abomination tore itself from the girl, and Phaedra crumpled like a leaf doused in flame.

A vice wrapped around the flower maid's wrist, and Aeris was trapped between horror and fallen. All deception bled out in his clutch, and she raised her head to her fate without fear. The Planet was voiceless, and she prayed it could hear her as the light within flushed her skin. Sharpened tendrils came for her heart, but she was filled with the grace of the world. A vessel, too, and unashamed of the role she would play again. Within her blood lay its destruction, the gift she'd been given from death. It had never been lost, her precious white stone. It dwelled deep inside to wait.

Aeris knew her purpose, why she'd been sent back to this side of the stream. It was always to die, to be sacrificed, and once more watch the world from afar, but the little Ancient had accepted her fate from the moment she'd known its true name. She braced for the blow facing the horror that was incomprehensible in form. Her mind couldn't fathom, but didn't shut down. She was graciously blocked from that end. The pain would be sharp, but brief in its torture. Her heart was a tether both holding love and the ties that bound her to this life. The one would be sundered, the other uncut for death cannot master all.

Even as swift as shadow could fall, Sephiroth still had no time. He was facing the very cells in his flesh, the corruption that lived in his blood. There was no way to avoid the sacrifice, but he was still faster than his little flower and flung her aside with a sweep of his wing. The Masamune appeared between him and it, brimming over with holy light, and his eyes reflected that endless gleam turning Mako into miracle. Echoed and growing a ceaseless flame that burned brighter than skin white as ice. There was no time in between two heartbeats as the sword found its place in corruption, curling all it touched within.

There is nothing more real than the scrape of death against hard living bone. The pain meant for her pierced through black leather, white skin and thick muscle and bone. It burrowed like a worm beneath his heart where the thrum sank in what was to come. Neither that nor the blood that stained perfect lips touched the mask upon his face. His flower was safe. That's all that did matter as the power she'd called filled his veins. His blood was spilling on leather and pale, but the light filled the space it had left. The black wing was lifted and transfixed in place by the tendrils that pierced joint and bone. Bloody feathers rained down over white hair, leaving brushes of blood in their wake. Within his body the horror clawed at his soul, but had no way to get inside. He had no hatred only grief and grief makes darkness pure.

"You broke into my mind." He full faced the horror, holding blood between his teeth, but neither that nor the pain stole the power that swelled his voice. "You stole everything I was. Everything I could've been. I was already a monster, and you made me something worse. You turned me into you…"

The Masamune holy twisted inside so the sharp of the blade faced up, but within Sephiroth the false mother writhed, too. His jaw clenched behind the mask. This abomination that held him only in part tried to flaw raw his mind. The lift of his lips was forced in defiance as the great sword sliced horror apart. Dust specks and shadow filled the lost screech as the scratching beast, too, fell full silent. The passage of darkness became only that, a hallway that needed a light. Held high in his brilliance within both his hands, the sword shed shadow like second skin.

Softer blood fell down his chest and glistened the coat at his back. Hands that never faltered to unbroken strength opened to the weight of the blade. It clattered on tiles and shook the stale air where stillness was now dissipating. Where light left him, only death remained, and if he was its angel, he had to abide by the rules it had set forth. His descent was graceful, but it was still a fall, and Aeris ran to his side with a cry. Sephiroth slid against the old platform that had once held its victims in torment. Now it supported its once struggling subject who suffered twice to the pain of pure tears. The little Cetra pulled his coat apart and sobbed as though all light had died. Only that table was propping him up as he looked through agony with utter love.

"Are we even now, little flower?" he whispered. "Has the debt now been repaid?"

"There is no debt! There never was. I told you I knew my purpose." She clung to his neck, and Sephiroth stroked her back where there was nary a wound. Blood pooled out so red beneath rent and torn black leather, but the greatest pain was her endless tears flooding his rustless armor. "You didn't owe me a thing." She pulled herself back to look at that lovely face paler.

"I owe you all things…" He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "My dear little flower…I'd do it again. Anything to save you. A life for a life. A debt for a debt. Blood will pay for blood…"

Her piteous sobs shut his eyes where the emerald light flickered and dimmed. Behind his lids it was finally hidden so no light was cut on a lash. The wounds were too great on his right side for him to lift that hand. It rested against his ruined wing as each feather wept darker blood. Sephiroth kissed her brow, cupping a cheek full soaked with the salt of tears. The slits were more open but still split the light as it wavered around that darkness.

"Please…please don't go," she begged. "Please don't leave me alone…" She cleared his face of blood damped strands, silver made tangled by red.

"Never beg, my little rose. Never beg for me…" He tried to kiss her brow but missed and slid across her temple.

"No!" she cried clutching his shoulders and filling her fingers with moon washed hair. As long as she held it, he couldn't go. She believed like a child in the dark. "You never found what you were looking for."

"I was looking for a grave…" He pressed his forehead to hers, bound together with blood, and Aeris's tears washed down his face, cutting runnels in the red. "Where I am going…" He held voice together for it wanted to break around pain. "…you cannot follow, little rose."

She kissed his brow, she kissed his cheeks, she kissed his lips so stained. Anything, something to drive life back in, and then Aeris remembered.

"Wait! My staff, my oaken staff. I can heal these wounds!"

Darkness was calling within too bright light, so he closed it away. The hand that had lifted that steel car with ease struggled to reach punctured chest. Regret stained his lips as readily as blood, as Sephiroth slid down the slick skin. His belly bled above his belt, muscle no defense against death. The other half of his body, his right arm and wing only swirled in a vortex of pain. He didn't know how many times he'd been pierced, but relief still gave him a smile. Through the miasma, his rose was returning, and there was joy for she knew not this pain.

Sephiroth hissed. He didn't mean to as Aeris laid a hand to his wounds. "I'm so sorry!" she cried and with eyes closed he smiled. His wonderful, stubborn flower. He wanted to tell her once again not to apologize, but oblivion's tongue held only his name. He had only a few words left and could not waste them to chastise. The cooling touch from her spell barely softened his agony. His flesh wouldn't knit to hold his soul in.

He opened his eyes to her ravaged face, more tears to skin through his veil. It was as though the hue of the emerald swam now before his sight. _It's her summer eyes…they're filling my gaze. How gracious this world must be. This last sight of light before endless darkness. How do I deserve such a gift?_

"Oh Aeris…" he whispered, "I can smell summer. It's pure and good and green." The healing cool filled all of his wounds, and he smiled as it faded to pain. Aeris collapsed against his shoulder, the stone in her staff dark as dust. Sephiroth brushed her cheek with his fingers so the flower maid raised her head. She pressed his palm hard to her face and sank down to her knees. Kissing it, clutching it, trying to squeeze some warmth from his draining skin.

"It's alright, little one. I promise you that. You're unharmed. I fulfilled my task." He pushed himself up to erupt agony, but that didn't matter now. Leaning his brow he clutched her close to flood her green eyes with last light. "You let me protect you. You let me love you. The least I can do for you is die."

It didn't go out like a bulb in burst, but slowly faded like autumn dusk. Aeris tried to form words, but agony stole them while blindness followed her tears. His lids were half open, lashes spread forth, but those eyes were as dull as the air. The light that had lived to be never extinguished was now forever dark. Only her hand kept his to her cheek as she keened over beautiful death. Her cries filled that room, awakening the memory of those who had screamed so before, but they remained silent to Aeris's grief in respect to he who lay slain.

* * *

_Author's Note: __The next chapter is simply titled **Judgment **and that will fall next Friday August 21._

_Thank you again for your comments, favorites, and follows!_


	23. Judgment

"**Justice can sleep for years and awaken when it is least expected. A miracle is nothing more than dormant justice from another time arriving to compensate those it has cruelly abandoned. Whoever knows this is willing to suffer, for he knows that nothing is in vain."  
\- Mark Helprin, "Winter's Tale" **

**Chapter 23  
Judgment**

Aeris was broken, curled in a ball against her guardian's body. His head was turned sharp to one side, darkened eyes dull through their slits. Salt shimmered on his face like a starlight mask in beauty dead as a fallen flower. Near her feet was the oak staff, useless and grey as old wood. Why hadn't it worked? He'd still been alive. Had her powers failed her at last? Maybe the Planet wasn't now mute. Maybe she was forsaken. Her tears were trapped in his many wounds, the mortal and grim, and moonlight spilled in sorrow tangled deep in blood and ash.

A scrape and a clatter lifted her head, eyes dull as a year without rain. If darkness was rising once more for her blood, the Cetra did not even care. She'd beg it for moments alone with her grief before completing the sacrifice. And before her sight was the changed girl, though that was no longer right. Phaedra crept to his other side careful around the broken wing. Her lips were parted and dry to her tongue. The tremble rode her skin like a wave.

"Is it…it is really _him?_" Her voice was high and shy. She was only a child as Aeris had been merely century ago. The Cetra stared blankly forgotten the moments where they'd faced the world's true foe. This had been its vessel, but now she was blank like a water jug ever unfilled.

"Yes." The word was croaked like a crow, and Aeris laid a hand to his belt. That strange insignia was now rimmed in blood still warm beneath her fingers.

Phaedra stretched a hand slowly forth, but pulled it back as though struck a sharp blow.

"He was beautiful…"

"He still is," Aeris said, meeting her gaze at his face. "Death can't tarnish that truth."

Phaedra lurched up, pushing tipped hair away from her hollow face. She took in the vestiges of torture strewn about the deep room, forcing her eyes avoid the inevitable if they ever wanted to see something else. The stairway was crumbled too far up to reach without the power of flight. She picked at the tattered lace on her hands staring into that yawning maw. The scratching was ceased, but horror still lingered. Memory to make nightmares real.

"We should…get out of here," she whispered, and Aeris glanced over still wrapped in a dead angel's embrace.

"You can go. I need to…abide for awhile." She finished with her head on his chest.

"I won't be able to see." Small tentative steps brought the girl towards the passage. Her boots crunched on something, a scalpel more rust than steel upon the floor.

"How did you do it before?" Aeris asked then wondering at the distance.

Phaedra half turned, unsure of her back within the sight of that tunnel. "When…it was in me, my eyes had light…similar to his."

"No." The word made the Follower jump back so she bumped against a desk. Cobwebs were strung between two computers as though spiders had written that code. "They weren't like his," the flower girl countered, clenching her fist on leather black. One tear had escaped his eye to shine on frost white skin. The Cetra knew it would be cold as if winter itself did weep. She lifted a hand suddenly ashamed and shut the thin veined lids. His lashes so long curled wet on his cheeks, brushing against the blood there.

Phaedra gave a glance to the dark before approaching Aeris again. "You're the last Cetra…" she whispered in awe. "The one…the one he killed…"

"That was never him," Aeris said softly giving the girl a sad gaze. "That was the horror that dwelled in you, too."

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry for that. I…shouldn't have treated you so badly before. The abomination…it wanted him back, wanted him that very moment."

"It's…it's fine. Please, please don't…apologize to me…" But then she was lost in the tide of tears too great to be fully hidden. A sharp sniff stopped them abruptly, and Aeris made herself to sit up. The time for survival was forcing her sorrow away from the front of her mind. She was deeper in Midgar than ever she'd been with nowhere to go but through night. The webs of lost promises fell into tatters, sundered by death's brutal cut. She wiped her face raw and let summer lift to her love for one final look.

"How are we going to get out?" the Cetra asked, keeping tight rein on her voice.

"There's only one way." Phaedra pointed and Aeris's heart sank within.

"Is it straightforward at least?" Her tone had turned flat.

"I…I think it is." The girl raked fingers through two toned hair, and the flower maid wished to surrender. If the dark did lead them away from this place, it would take her back to the slums. Sector 2 where she'd be trapped with no way to even reach her church. She'd become a mouse weaker than a rat trying to claw its way through a wall, but the Cetra had lived too long destitute to completely give up now. Sector 2 was closer to the edge than her church had been. She'd have to find a way past the fence and what waited beyond. Then through the wasteland rife with deep chasms and possibly to Kalm. The thought turned amorphous and somehow the maiden was walking on the beach by her home. The dream was inane and every step was more impossible than the last. _You selfish girl…you didn't spare a thought for the plight of the bitter slums. People rotting beneath a dead city…and the world below silent still. _

Too many horrible things had occurred for the Cetra to feel that impact. It was just another swirl of grief to add to the myriad layers. She shut her eyes for she wanted memory to have a sweeter sight. Lifting her face Aeris kissed his cheek where that tear was ice on her lips.

He floated in summer within endless green with silver hair swirling around. Descending down though gently buoyant, his head tilted slightly up. His eyes were still shut as if sealed by death. Oblivion needed no sight. It would be darkness, empty and cold, what he felt now was residue. His projection of self still garbed in leather laid a hand to the lily within. He didn't need to see the petals to know they still bloomed, and the fallen angel smiled. That piece of her was bestowed on him, and he was thankful for undeserved gifts. He took a breath he didn't need and felt no pain at the pull. The memory of such seemed suddenly strange like summer swept in snow.

Light still circled painting a picture of utter joy in his mind. His little flower wrapped in his arms watching sunset stain the sea. It tried to tinge his ashen hair, but that belonged to the moon. Aeris clasped his larger hands, tangling their fingers together. Sephiroth looked down or rather witnessed his vision-self perform the act. His expression beat sorrow into submission for her ecstasy in his arms. It never made sense her joy found in him, but he couldn't deny it was there. The image wavered and melted back into the core of his memory, but others replaced it with joy. Her stroking his moonlit hair in the night beneath a sky that swam with stars. Then her in his arms as his lips refused to leave her skin in peace. Within cerulean vaults above, he carried her to the wind in his wing. She wanted to know if it went on forever, and he wanted to show her it did.

He floated in place still blind behind lids though light was bleeding through. It couldn't be his. That wrong had gone out forever in the depths. Here and now was not the place to think of that past horror. Soft currents caressed his perfect face like the memory of her fingers, and the scent of summer was far too great for it to not be her. He opened his eyes and the gentle pulse of green light welcomed him home. There was only one color like this in all worlds, and it lived behind her soft lids. He peered about within the swell and no movement brought any pain. The great black wing rose high above, and he winced slightly to full shame, but this was another in between. He could only be himself.

_Child. _The voice rang through his soul, and the once general spun around. Confused to the echo within and without as streams of light followed his turn.

_Are you speaking to me?_ He thought it was aloud, but his lips didn't move to his voice.

No tangible answer filled his mind, only a burst of sweetest accord. Sephiroth half-shaded emerald eyes, ashamed they touched this place. What poured forth from Mako bright melded within luminous swells. This was its source and the general in terror realized this time he'd be judged. There was only one verdict that could be passed. The guilt poured from his skin.

_You call me 'child' as if I deserve to know my mother's name. _He floated there stricken to his unseen assessor wishing to hide his wing. It didn't matter. His crimes were apparent to what he had sinned against. Why it didn't burn through corruption, the fallen would never know. Another sweet memory filled his mind, lifting the general's head. Light shimmered behind his resealed lids as Aeris murmured his name with love. He reached out his hand to her fading fingers though her vision remained in his clutch.

_What is this light? _he had to ask.

_It's the same that lives in you._

Sephiroth shook his head, shivering silver that floated amongst the swells. _No. This isn't abomination._

_Neither is yours no matter the method it was given. You suffered in madness…but you endured._

I_ suffered. _It had to be a cruel joke, but there no animosity. _More I was the bringer of woe. I am the one who walked that path._

_A path you didn't choose… _The presence grew around him, holding the fallen up, and he wanted so much to believe. _You gave your life for her, my most precious daughter…_

_What else do I have to give? I owed her my life. I owed her my blood. I owe her my very soul._

_These deeds must not be unrewarded._

_Her life is reward enough. _The emerald gleam swam along his long lashes that tangled in streaming lights.

_And her happiness?_

Sephiroth looked up in sorrow as memories flowed through his soul. She holding his hand and leading him down the sea strand iced in night.

_You can't deny what you know is true. She has never been happier and is buried now in despair._

His heart was cut through that pain. _But do I deserve such utter joy?_

_You deserve so much more, and besides… _Slight amusement lifted that presence. _How do you suppose she will escape that prison beneath the earth?_

Mako eyes widened in horror and grief and without thought he spread that great wing. Sweeping it down to push himself through the tide that filled all above. Gentle laughter without mock sped him on his way, as Sephiroth soared swift through the stream up and up and up…

Burbling came like morning birds below instead of through the sky. Aeris heard the voice that plagued her days and filled her dreams at night.

_Child._

_What do you want? _She glared at the ground and shook to fight her wrath. How _dare _it speak to her now when all was late and lost? _Leave me be. Leave me alone with the grief you gave. Where were you when I desperately called? Teaching me another lesson? Showing me I once more must wait with death as my reward? No…I don't care. It doesn't matter. You will never hear my voice agai-_

_Child, look up. I bring you a gift._

The pull to obey was too well ingrained though she hated her full obedience. Aeris raised her head to a glimmer of light seeping soft through his lids. The great cry from her soul held Phaedra so afraid that the girl backed towards the dark passage. His breath was a whisper raised to a hush as his brows knit together in ash. Fingers curled at Aeris's waist, and she shook in disbelief. Laying her hands to his epaulets, she locked her ear against his chest. At first it fluttered like unsure wings before breath helped it catch the beat. There was never a sight more wonderful than that deep emerald light. It poured and poured to defy the darkness that had once more failed. She threw her arms around his neck and sobbed to him holding her close, each moment tighter to his returned strength until he had to temper it back.

_Please, _she prayed, _let this be real._

The world laughed to her near broken promise. There was no malice as it gently sang in harmony to joy's tears.

"You're alive. How? How are you are alive?" She kept clutching and catching the smooth, silver skein, shaking with fear this would fade, but his grip just grew tighter enfolding his rose as his cheek slid soft against hers. Sephiroth refused to open his eyes for that would sure break this dream. Summer bested the stale, tortured air, and her joyful heart sang in his ears.

"There are things that death cannot conquer," he whispered, "and that hate cannot wash away." Aeris fell forward with her lips to his and he tasted her sweet then pulled back. "Ah no, little one. Don't soil your tongue. My mouth is tainted with blood."

"I don't care." She fought against his grip and Sephiroth could not deny her. He cupped the back of her head driving hard into what he'd thought was ever lost. "And it's not…" Aeris whispered against his lips. "It's not tainted at all."

Sephiroth knitted his brows together peering down at his once broken form. The only blood he bore was residual, the only wounds worn memory. His flesh was whole, and as he sat up his wing hushed against the air. It left light behind as he hid it away before fingering the rents in the leather. Through and through and one strap was sundered by the death that he had faced.

"It appears I shall need another coat or a way to repair this one."

"I'll fix your coat for you, Sephiroth!" And she clung again to his neck. Chuckling the Great General climbed to his feet with only a little less grace than before. As he rose the cascade of silver shimmered down the black, and though blood tinged it, silk still held light enough to bath his little love. He held her tightly in his arms as she sobbed upon his shoulder.

"Weep with joy, little one. All is well now. I promised I wouldn't leave you alone."

"Not even death can make you break that vow…" She cleared bloody hair from his face.

"That's right. I'll always be your protector." A form caught the edge of his eye and Sephiroth turned to lay light on what had been its shell.

The girl was shaking as she looked up at whom she'd both worshipped then abhorred. For moments long the general just stared seeking out shreds of corruption, but the only he could find just lived in him, and he was no longer its to command.

"I'm…I'm so sorry sir…"

Sephiroth shook his head. Aeris soft smiled despite her tears, anticipating his answer.

"No one should ever apologize to me."

Phaedra's eyes grew wide at that. She squeezed her fingers pulling again at the lace in threadbare gloves. "She…_it_ promised me things. I-It told me…" She shuddered hard.

The general lowered his face with a nod. "You let the dark in. I've been there, child. I've been there far too deep. It would've torn through you just like a used match once burned to be discarded. The promises of darkness will never lead to light."

The girl sniffled and rubbed hard at her cheek, the worn lace scratching her skin. "I remember everything…"

"And you will forever. That is the worst part."

"Why didn't you just kill me?" Phaedra asked.

"I wanted to." The poor child froze. Lifting her eyes with fear on her face at his staunch directness. "But I've shed enough needless blood. The flames within will never die." He shifted his gaze to the darkest corner. None needed to see that…what still lived inside and left a hollow for his guilt.

"I'm…not really mad at you for that." Phaedra looked up through her bi-colored hair.

"Somewhere, child, you are. But it's alright. I deserve that hate."

"But it happened a long time ago, sir. I…wasn't even alive then."

"But it still shaped your life," Sephiroth said shutting his eyes to the weight. "Daughter to mother, mother to grand. What we do ripples in time…"

"But it doesn't have to rule you," Aeris broke in, her bottom lip trembling to dual griefs. "I don't understand something, though." He turned back towards her. Despite horror and death, the general found smile for the wonderful sight of his rose. Her braid was messy and ribbon loose. Her dress hung half off her shoulder. He wanted to taste that bare, beckoning skin, a thought wholly inappropriate. He did kiss her brow and the flower girl blushed as if she could read his intentions. Clearing her throat to his half grin, she continued her concern. "Why was I so lucid and still able to think?" She gave a glance to the Follower of Seph. "I mean it drove my people mad, and I couldn't hear the Planet. My dearest friend might have offered protection, but it was silent in my mind. I couldn't hear the horror either though. It never once reached me."

"I blocked it Aeris," Sephiroth admitted laying his brow against hers. "I took all the horror directed at you. It couldn't touch me. I'm too much like it."

"You're not like it at all."

He shut his eyes with a soft smile and for once he felt no shame. "It's part of me, but not the only part, and I won't let it ruin my life with you." He shook the silver away from his face so that blood would not touch her, but Aeris defied that to tangle her fingers in his red lined bangs.

"There's only one way to get back, sir." Phaedra forced herself face that passage.

Sephiroth sighed and glanced at the girl. "You don't have to call me that." He approached her and the nearness brought tremble on her sunless skin. Ignoring that the general let his light pierce the tunnel that was now only dark. Then with Aeris still in his arms, he turned to fetch his sword. It was still waiting where it had fallen from his once weakened hands. The flower girl clung hard to his neck as he crouched to pick it up, but it was merely a weapon once more with its use determined by will. Whatever corruption had lingered on steel did not now dull the blade, and Sephiroth slid it in between to Phaedra's unhidden gasp.

"Are you going to put me down so I can get my staff?" Aeris asked when he stood back up.

"I never want to put you down again, little flower. Maybe when we reach the Whispers far away from this place, but until then, until we're gone from here, I want you in my arms." He crouched again to retrieve her staff, and her little hand closed around.

"I don't understand why it didn't work," she murmured to the dull gleam. The general stepped around the debris for graves should not be disturbed. No matter the horrors that had been preformed her, the victims deserved their peace.

"What didn't work, Aeris?"

"My prayer. My spell. You were still alive…"

His thoughts turned inward to lifted lips. "Your 'dearest friend' had need of me…or rather I had the need."

"Oh!" the flower maid gasped with joy. "You were in the Lifestream!"

"Again. Yes, little one, I was." How gracious that was crossed his perfect face and left awe behind the mask. "And it was made up of only memories. Memories of you, little flower, better than any paradise. It was as though I'd fallen into your pure, green eyes, and I could only be myself, but not what I fear. I was what you see. You see me different. You see me pure."

"I only see what's there."

He didn't respond, turning to Phaedra. "This path isn't wide and just high enough for me to pass. If you go in first my eyes will still lead you. The light in them is bright enough." The girl quickly nodded, and he held a sigh for hero worship returned. "If I see or sense anything foul, you should try to get behind me. You're not my little flower…" He squeezed her closer as if to ensure she still dwelled in his arms. "But it's my fault you were in this position, and I'll protect you, too."

Residual light from that lowest lab attended them at the start of their way, but brighter before was burning emerald to part the deepest shades. His epaulets scraped against the walls, which were manmade and smooth. A vestige of a spy way, Aeris was unsure, though it hardly mattered now. The Cetra could barely see around his wide frame blocking the past light. An outline that shimmered against his bright armor, fading as a corner was turned. In utter darkness his pupils receded to float in a sea of green. Crystalline emerald that reminded the maid of the north she had only seen once.

Phaedra laid one hand to the wall for a tether to the mundane. The Mako gleam created shadows that reminded her of what she'd been, but glancing back almost seemed worse for the glaring source of that light.

"What will you do when we return? Do you wish to leave the city?" His voice shook cloying air.

It was more dry than damp, but Aeris clung tighter to the weight of the world above. Her friend spoke in nonsense, too overjoyed to provide much counsel now. The Cetra took that as a sign of no danger. _And besides I'm in Sephiroth's arms…_

"Everyone wants to leave the city," Phaedra said, picking at lace.

The flower girl had only half formed her reply as Sephiroth froze facing the wall. Shifting the Cetra, the general laid finger to a slim crack in the ancient stone. It felt like an abyss and not just a fissure dwelled amidst those two sides.

"Seph?" Her little voice broke through his mind. "Sephiroth, what is it?"

"It's very thin here," he replied in quiet, and his words seemed to be sucked inside. "Like the slightest slice could cut through the air." The light dimmed low behind one lid as the other eye peered through the crack. "I can see in between…"

"But you told me you can't do that in Midgar." She couldn't help it and started to shake.

"That was the case." He noticed her tremble and wrapped her in both of his arms.

"That's _its _world, isn't it?" Phaedra's voice was flat, but Aeris sensed her terror, too.

"It is," Sephiroth affirmed, "but it's gone now, and the beast so enraged is silent. Without madness whispering in your ear, any monster can be tamed…" He laid his palm flat against the wall and revealed, "I can sidestep from here."

"Sidestep?" Phaedra asked and in his gleam the shadow of fear ruled her face.

"Yes." He looked to Aeris then as she clung tight to his neck. "It's alright, little one." He stroked her soft hair. "The monster within is silent. It won't hurt you and if it tried, I would kill it still. Besides…" He smiled. "I'll be quick and take us to the surface." He turned to Phaedra. "Take my hand." And then heard her heart erupt. Two rapid beats flooded his ears, Aeris's tied to a brief whimper. She ceased it at once, ashamed of herself, but still buried her face in his hair. His scent calmed her pulse, and she clutched the wood staff to ground her straying thoughts.

Phaedra's fingers tentatively reached for that large hand, and the warmth fueled infatuation. So swiftly he stepped toward that thin crack, and dampness was torn by stale cold. It prickled the back of Aeris's neck, but lasted less than a moment. That world that was dead was now also empty. The monster no more dwelled within. In the space of a blink he had time eternal, but in all that could not find the beast. Mortal eyes though would see nothing but blur, a monochrome world quickly faded, and then they were standing on the steps of the tower as twilight fell around.

The wound of dusk bled across the raw sky, but above the world it was bright. Phaedra fell full to her knees once Sephiroth released her hand. He laid those fingers to Aeris's skin, tilting back the frightened face. The flower girl blinked and winced at the light that mocked the dead, somber city. She wished she could say her eyes merely watered and were not soaked again with tears. Poor Phaedra kneeling did not even try to hide what flooded her sight. Amidst the abandoned, debris strewn streets she wept in the fading daylight.

Aeris gave Sephiroth a brief glance and with reluctance he set her down. The Cetra stepped gingerly towards the poor girl and laid a hand to one heaving shoulder. "It's overwhelming…I know."

"Where is everyone?" Phaedra sobbed, and Aeris lowered then shook her head.

"Gone," she told her. "Gone for years." She glanced to Sephiroth for validation. He'd clasped his hands behind his back, bowing his head as though this were his shame.

"There's no one here?" the Follower asked, lifting her eyes to the sun on the seam. She sniffled and passed a hand over her face, darting her gaze in disbelief. But no city dwellers shimmered before. Her tears obscure no absent forms.

"No," the general's low voice rang with grief. "They all left long ago."

"Everyone in the slums. They…didn't tell. They just fled and left us all here."

Aeris rubbed the poor child's shoulder as a swift thought turned her face to the tower. Sunlight reflected up the full length, though the monolith remained ever dull. Her hand froze and squeezed, and Phaedra half choked at the sudden dig of little fingers.

"Sephiroth," she whispered afraid to speak too loud, and the general sealed the short distance. "You were able to open the tower up here. Could you do so below?"

He frowned in thought. "I suppose I could. The codes would be the same. I remember where the control room is and could override all the locks."

Aeris's heart full flooded with joy. "Everyone can get out! Out through the tower." She shook Phaedra's shoulder as the girl blinked confused. "Child, we're going to open the doors. The slums will be a prison no more."

Phaedra gaped in awe for so long both her eyes and throat dried out. The lobby so dusty still bested her memory for luxury never seen. She could only follow as her title dictated the general and flower maid. He was holding her hand as they walked to her pace, but the Cetra was surprisingly swift. The corners of exhaustion did weigh down her feet, but she fought it renewed by her task.

The silver doors were ignored in favor of stairs. Sephiroth would not retake that risk as he scooped Aeris into his arms. Up the stairs he nearly flew and Phaedra gulped breath to keep up. The luxurious hallway was coated in dust over the expensive carpet. He ignored it all, the empty rooms, the flood of bitter memory to let latter lead him where the floor fell bare and the hum of technology ruled. He shook his head as though chiding a forgetful child who'd left on the light in an empty house. The code came quick and illumination flooded harsh to motion a century late. His Mako eyes swept over monitors and blinks that proved everything that still fed. _It wasn't them all…that was just an illusion, a trick of corruption below._ Giving Aeris a soft glance, Sephiroth set her down near the row of still humming machines. He knocked the dust off one of the chairs and cleared the cobwebs from a monitor. Not nearly as bad as the ones deep below, but he was glad it was old technology. _That's what I am, too. _A sudden dark thought, but he was more than adept at its tongue.

Aeris tried to follow, but her poor eyes just blurred, the green streaming to ribbons of light. His fingers flew as graceful as he over the dusty keys. The codes and commands came back in an instant with each click leading him in. Green letters on black, paler than his eyes and fading before emerald light. His authorization was entered a half dozen times, and encryptions at least twice more. They had wanted no one to break through their walls, but the general found no resistance. One by one he unlocked every door and ensured that the lights were full blue. What the wretched in the slums might've thought to that sight sank Sephiroth's ailing heart. _I'll know soon enough… _He shook it away with the silver locks that had fallen forth.

Standing he turned to find Phaedra dumbstruck. "Bring me everyone," he commanded. "The gates are unlocked. The doors are now open. The slums are a prison no more." He smelled the tears from Aeris's eyes before they could fully form. Her voice cut the hum of power from Mako still forged in reactors below.

"Sephiroth…" Despite whisper he heard it so clear. She had no strength left to speak. His speed was unreal as the general caught her before Aeris could faint dead away.

The flower maid dwelled in her own in between, but his embrace was ever there. His large, careful hand was laid to her face, as he nearly shouted her name. It wasn't exhaustion. It wasn't fatigue. This weariness went far beyond. Letting it take her was sweetest release. She knew he would never let her fall, and his arms were the safest of havens. Pale summer green fluttered to open drawn to that beautiful face. She smiled to dispel the pain in his heart wedded to guilt once again.

"I'm so sorry, Aeris. I'm so very sorry. I've neglected you, little flower."

"Nonsense," she whispered touching his cheek, but gravity was too hard to fight. She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault. That fell to full fear without rest. _Or sustenance, _she remembered and felt far away how empty her belly was. With horror loud calling something so mundane had meandered away from her mind. She faded again with a smile on her face for his ceaseless strength.

The Cetra woke with the scent of tea in her nostrils and thought, _I must be home. Maybe it was all a dream, but I truly hope not all. _Leather wreathed around vanilla and her head was slightly raised. She was warm and so she smiled, facing a tangle of chestnut hair. A soft swath of ribbon fell against her face, and Aeris cleared it to open her eyes. Dusky darkness filled her view that brightened as she focused. She was lying on something musty but soft, her head cradled on leather sleeve. The flower maid couldn't help her smile despite hunger and lingered fatigue, for there he was kneeling by her side. A curtain-less window brought in wane light, but it bowed before emerald green.

"Where are we?" she asked almost whimsically as if the answer didn't matter.

"Still in the tower." Sephiroth shook his hair back to cascade on flawless skin. "I found an apartment that still had a bed and wasn't completely ransacked." Aeris went to sit up and the general helped her, taking her hands as he pressed brow to brow.

"How long has it been?"

"Over a night. You terrified me, little rose."

"You in terror…" It seemed so absurd. Without coat he was utterly perfect. He reached toward the table to bring back what explained the scent of tea.

"Drink, little one." It was soft command and her small fingers closed around.

"Where did you get this?" she whispered in awe.

"I went back to the Whispers."

Aeris shook her head now completely convinced that this was dream. "But…but how-"

"I sidestepped there."

"But I thought you couldn't do that in Midgar!"

"I can now." He peered up and haunting green eyes watched her gentle brush through his hair. Dried blood still clung there, and she registered her surprise that she smelled none on his coat. "When I opened the tower, I found _that _blocked door. I was right in what I surmised. It had been set up as a means of control, but was painfully easy to hack." Sephiroth glanced away for a moment, pupils slicing the past. "And so I freed the fourth layer."

"D-Did you say it was a full night?" She remembered his earlier words.

"More, little one. Here eat this. I brought you soup."

"Is there anything you can't do?" she whispered with awe.

"I can't change the past. I can't fix the horrors I've wrought."

"You're wrong about that." Aeris shook her head as she closed her hands around the bowl. "At least the latter. You've more than made up for them all."

"Not all, little one…" He gave her a spoon. "It's only canned but it's warm."

Her raw hunger did not care. It was quickly stifled in just a few bites and the rest of the soup filled her up. It seemed so absurd to be sitting in Midgar, in the tower that had robbed all of life. _And of course then there's him…but he's not absurd, at least not any more._

Sephiroth rose, taking both vessels when the flower girl was finished. Setting them down, he bent to her low and kissed the little maid on her brow. She buried her fingers in silver soft hair as he tilted her mouth up to his. Claiming her gently, he tasted the tea that stained her sweeter lips. The general sighed with his hands on her shoulders before turning towards the window. Aeris rose, too, beside the tall form, unwinding the leather to offer it back. He took it, slipping the coat over broad shoulders and making his hair light the gloom. One clasp was twisted and cold on his chest as a strap hung against his high belt. It didn't matter. All that did now was his tiny flower was whole.

"Where's our new friend?" The Cetra's half smile was lost as he lowered his head.

"Fulfilling her task. You'd be amazed Aeris at how quickly such news can spread. I warned her to not mention my name. You told me what happened before…"

The flower girl leaned against his side, taking his larger hand between her two. Mako light seared the world beyond the window, and the mask tried to hide from her sight.

"Everyone will escape then we can go home…" Too much joy would make her burst.

Sephiroth sealed the emerald hard and turned to face his flower. "One of those things is certainly true." His voice was a hollow stone.

"Sephiroth…what it is?" She squeezed his hand hard, and her general answered her gentle. He spoke just like a man condemned and that made less than sense.

"In that blackest of labs, the Follower said I could never be forgiven."

"No, _she _didn't say that. The false mother did, and you're forever freed of those lies."

He shook his head slowly, and moonlight hair licked all along Aeris's arms. "They were tied together as I was long ago. Half truths are worse than lies. It's hard to see where they sit in between, but I know that one thing is true. I will never be forgiven, Aeris, and I can no more hide."

"What do you mean, Sephiroth?" Her palms slicked in sweat as the blood receded beneath now pallid skin.

"The people of Midgar, all those from slums…they deserve their justice." He turned to her fully to summer soaked eyes wetting chestnut on her cheeks. Her heart beat in fear drowned by pure love, and Sephiroth could hardly stand it. This innocent maiden he'd killed and then died for who adored him above the sky. "I shall be tried and I shall be judged. It's only fair, my little flower. They have the right," he laughed without mirth. "An angel who forgot his place and tried to be a god…

"I suppose you won't just step away." Her voice was heavy to hide that shame.

"No. I've been hiding my entire life. Hiding behind madness. Hiding behind glamour. Hiding behind long dead lies. It's enough, little one. It's time to shed shadows. It's time to face my fate."

"Haven't you already done that? Haven't you been judged enough?!" It was wildly unfair, and Aeris knew she was being as selfish as a child. "You wandered in darkness for a hundred years. You were tortured all the days of your life. You were impaled and so paid that 'debt,' and you're telling me that's not enough?!"

"The slum-born deserve their justice, too," he said so calmly it hurt. "And I am the symbol of all that oppressed them, the product of their grief." Aeris wanted to rail and beat at his chest with tiny, useless fist, but he would just catch her or he would just let her. She wasn't sure which one was worse. Besides she would never act in violence against her general again. "If they wish to re-cage me, I'll accept it, my rose."

"I'm not going to let that happen to you. I'm not going to let you suffer!" He raised his brow at her vehemence and slid a hand down her messy braid. In eyes ripe with anger tangled with fear, he saw the foundation was love. "If it comes to that," she swallowed, "I'll stay here with you."

"No, Aeris," he forced authority. "I'll take you back to your seaside house. You mustn't live your life in darkness for a murderer's sake."

"I will." Her stubbornness trumped his command. "I won't leave you." Aeris squeezed both fists around his larger hand. "I won't leave you to suffer such bondage alone. If you take me to the Whispers, I'll find my way back."

He narrowed the light til it cut, but she was immune and just kept glaring. "How will you survive down there alone?"

"I did it before, didn't I? Besides," she whispered stepping closer, "I won't be alone. I'll be with you. I'll hold your hand through the prison bars just like I'm doing now..."

He swept her up in utter grief and tried to bury it in a kiss. Over and over tongue plunging deep until she wanted to cry his name. He held this moment savored so sweet for he had no hope for the future. He'd receive his reward in blackness so bound, chained in the dark ever more. Light was not meant for one such as he, joy was not made for a monster. This beautiful flower wrapped in his arms just had to be convinced, but though Sephiroth could crush men's bones and bend their minds, he could not sway his stubborn rose.

The general heard the girl before she knocked on the open door. Two beautiful faces turned toward the sound, one blushing and one masked so pale. Phaedra had abandoned her battle torn dress though she was still dressed in black. Boots and buckles to try to match him and make up to whiten her face.

"S-Sir," she swallowed the stammer. "Sir, e-everyone is ready."

"What did you tell them?" He put Aeris down to wrap her in his arms.

Phaedra scraped her hair back, tips tickling her ears. "Only the truth…someone was able to unlock the gates. I just didn't say who it was." A quick smile coy covered her lips, and Aeris could see how the girl had survived. "I _did _tell my Followers, but they've kept their secrets nearly for forever. That's why what's left are still alive. Everyone's outside the tower. They…didn't want to come inside." Phaedra rubbed her arm covered by long, fingerless glove. "There really aren't that many people. There weren't a lot of us left…"

"Aeris-"

"I'm coming with you," she interrupted before he could say anything else. Sephiroth nodded, not willing to argue. There'd be no winning anyway.

"Are you alright to walk?" was all he would ask, and Aeris smiled while looking up.

"I'm fine for now and I'll look more imposing if you're not carrying me." Her laugh brought a softness to bright emerald eyes, and his lips tilted up ever slightly.

Phaedra led the way through the muted dark hall that wore its luxury like defiance. The lights here were non-sensored and just dully gleamed though more than half were long spent. Paint peel and the scent of dry rot tinged their nostrils as they passed. Many doors were open and revealed scattered contents, the windblown, the ransacked, the lost. It was as though they had been late for the last train and if missed it would spell only doom. Aeris craned her neck wondering where they had gone. Were their descendants her neighbors now? Did Myrna or Nellie hold this fateful secret? Did Edwin's grandfather hail from this rot? _Edwin, _she pondered his face indistinct. _I'm surprised I remember his name. _She squeezed Sephiroth's hand as he breezed by the Follower who'd called the elevator to take them down.

The stair door was still there though it hung off its hinges, and Phaedra stumbled to catch up. "I took the elevator, sir," she told him in pant watching the banner of silver soft sway.

"We tried to go down," he said without stopping though he did pull Aeris close. "It ended quite poorly so I shall not trust it again."

The lobby was humming and the skylight was bright so the lights above muted their gleaming. Aeris's heart matched the stumble of her feet as she realized she should've been praying. _Oh my dearest friend, though that title is tied, please let him be judged for the present. _Her response was soft music, grey and forlorn, and Sephiroth tied their fingers together. The world had spoken to him only in death, but her grief was too easy to hear. His eyes slid to neon to buy himself time as they stepped through the lobby doors.

The girl had not lied. Their numbers weren't many. Maybe two hundred, maybe less. This was all that had made it after the flight, after their high oppressors had left. White skin was pale and dark skin waxed grey in the unblemished afternoon light. Midgar still made the sky look yellow as if the sight of that scar made it sick. Many huddled against cars or in the shadow of debris for something decrepit to cling to. It had been all they'd known and though finally free, it can be hard to let go of one's chains. The bravest sat or lounged with arms folded tight, trying but unable to look bored. These ones were rougher and neon swept over seeing within them survival meant violence. They'd been of that sector where it had rained blood, but had not been present that day. As if then past drawn, his eyes found the one he had spared by his flower's behest. He hid behind one of the braver souls, a lackey through and through.

Aeris clutched Sephiroth's hand so tight her fingers began to ache, but she had to do something when sight of his jailer crossed her innocent gaze. The man that she'd compared to a jackal who looked far more devious now. Then she saw the children and quick hid the gasp of relief and sorrow to their plight. They stood together oft clutching each other for that was what they'd clung to. A few pointed up at the sky above, more enraptured than any adult. All of the people were out of their element like lost mice awaiting the cat.

Phaedra hurried to where her Followers were gathered and whisper rose up like a storm. They were twenty strong maybe a bit more and stood separate and off to the side. Disgust and hatred emanated their way from the people Midgar had destroyed. Most dressed in black and they had clearly fared better than the majority of the slums, and not too far away were the other "elite," proving hierarchy exists even below.

"Are you the one who opened the gates?" a voice called from the back.

Sephiroth let the neon burn almost too bright as he sought that speaker out. Aeris stood before him hard gripping his hand in all of her little fingers. Two hundred heartbeats and still he could find the one that made pain so sweet. He wrapped his arm around his flower running every thought through his mind. The only difference between here and below was now he was the only monster.

"I did." His voice echoed through air. The Cetra couldn't explain how those two small words held a wealth more answer than demanded. "But I've done far more…far more than that, and you deserve to know." His glamour dropped like shattered glass and emerald dimmed the day. Fury and terror tore through the crowd save the Followers in fear and elation. Sephiroth turned toward them with a sad shake of his head, and their squeals and gasps died away. Aeris pressed herself into the wall that was him as hatred and fear did war. He'd been the cause of their long interment. This brief freedom above didn't count. Sephiroth stood tall holding her close as the rumblings turned to a roar.

"Hear me first," the once general said, his voice echoing in command. He'd done it on purpose though felt his guilt tearing his heart in that act. _They mustn't hurt her. If my words can stop that, I'd rip through every mind. _Looking down he met Aeris's gaze and took heart from purest light. "This little flower saved you all…saved you all from me. That must be told first." He lifted his head and tossed silver hair aside. Aeris shut her eyes to moonlight brush wishing for different moments. She turned it to prayer, and the Planet low murmured tingling her feet through her boots. Sephiroth slid past her to approach the crowd that tensed like an angry snake. The glint of blades and dull sheen of gun metal only made him sadder. He ceased motion though when that wall of hate could not be discerned from the fear.

"She is the last Cetra."

His voice echoed as the so-named clasped her hands distraught. A soothing cool flowed through her mind, and she shook at her dearest friend's calm.

"And I once took her life." He bowed his head, face obscured by long hair. "She saved you all and blessed me with forgiveness." Sephiroth hard shut his eyes. He didn't need sight to know if one moved, but though hatred steamed they remained still. The only reprieve came from the Followers, but they were in minority. "I cannot ask for such from you who rotted long in darkness, but at very least let me tell my story before judgment is passed on."

The roughest men slid their weapons away as if sense descended with dusk. Hardened faces still glared at perfection as if to tear it to shreds, but the worst of the bile came from the common, the slum born who'd huddled in hovels. It was eating them hollow from the inside, hatred so held through the years. The only ones who looked at him with nothing were the children he had once walked among. There was neither assent nor was there denial. Metal scraped as the crowd tensed on cars, anger contained in taut skins.

The general paced the stairs to the tower, his heart heavy with the words he would say. Even when freed they would weigh him down more than the chains that would be his due. He looked to Aeris. It could not be helped and then she was there by his side. Sephiroth had to hold her before in these moments to tie her memory to his skin. There was no way in heaven or eternal dark he'd let her abide by his cage.

He started in darkness, the black labs below, where he'd been created and born. The years of injections, the beatings, the pain all rolled off his tongue. His voice never changed as though reading a paper about unfortunates long, long ago. Only Aeris's tears spilled soft on his hands proved such terrible truth. The only time joy crept into his voice was when he spoke about first meeting her. Not all was remembered and Sephiroth told that, but the memory of innocence was pure. Then to his mission and then to his madness and then to a murdered maid. She'd prayed and prayed for the light to save them, but her answer was only dark blood. Sephiroth locked his arms at her waist and looked down for minutes long. The crowd muttered but mutely in his ears now as he took forgiveness looking up. The thought came to him, _If Midgar so hates me, what then of Nibelheim? _But this wasn't the moment, and he took a deep breath to speak then of his quest for godhood. The false mother's words like a worm in his brain burrowing through all that was good. He told of her friends and how they'd fought despair despite all he had wrought. Then death which should've been the end, but was only a brief release. Finally to cold and lucidity and the century before his escape.

When Sephiroth reached the part of his capture, the jackal was terrified. It didn't help that emerald seemed to pierce his soul, finding it without any effort, but that gaze slid away to make all uncomfortable wherever the Mako light fell. The name of his mother caused the words dry for moments that could've bled dust, and Aeris tilting her head back and up poured love from her crown to her toes.

All of it told and all then confessed and he was grieved that he was so right. There was no release from the burden of it, as he bowed his head to wait. Sephiroth could hear the hum of reactors and smell their acrid scent. He held to the heart of his little flower flying so fast to his worry. The murmur of the masses melded with thrum of the Mako in their midst. Then it overrode it and shouting commenced, people screaming about what he deserved. Sephiroth dimmed his senses to the arguments about his punishment and fate. It troubled him only because Aeris wept to hear what some wished for her love.

"Whatever you decide," the general interrupted, "I will abide by your wish." That stilled the loud waters like pre-storm calm, and his jailor glared wary and taut. Sephiroth peered through as Aeris stared in horror reaped by imagination. They'd drag him through darkness back to his cell where they would leave him forever. Then like the others they'd just walk away after sundering the key. He wouldn't fight them, and he wouldn't escape no matter how Aeris would sob. Only her safety would cause him to act, but the slums would be still as a grave. The flower girl buried her face in his chest, her tears sliding on broken straps. Sephiroth gently rubbed her back with his unblinking eyes on the crowd. Their voices had lowered into the huddle that would decide his fate. Everyone now and then a Follower spoke up to be brutally cursed into silence. They were his only hope of absolution, and their words meant less than dust. He shut his eyes savoring the warmth of his flower in his arms. If he just imagined he could smell the sea mixed with her summer skin. The breeze that scattered debris in Mako reek was blown to sand and salt, and the murmurs of judgment changed to wave whispers as the gentle surf greeted the shore.

"Sir?" The dream burst in darkness, and emerald lit up Phaedra flanked by two of her ilk. Her lips were bloodless, thin, and white, her skin sallow in the sun. She flung her gaze over her shoulder to the jackal and his own followers. One glare sent her scurrying off to the side, and Sephiroth wondered how they would now fare. Their secret was out, but then so were the slums. Nothing held them here anymore. The rough men stood at the bottom of the stairs, and the general was a stone for their hatred. Aeris sniffed once and turned back around, jolted at verdict quick reached. She blinked away tears so summer turned sharp enough to rival the Masamune.

Even the hum of reactors descended to the bottom of Sephiroth's hearing. The crowd was taut as a new strung harp, arms folded over their resolution. All were in accord and the Followers were blank, whispering among themselves. Even that died away to quick clinking of metal before silence fell down like the night.

"You are more than guilty." The jackal leered up, the words too delicious to keep.

Sephiroth fell to his knees as Aeris's sobs shattered his last thread of hope. Long hair tumbled in silver moon pool upon the black of his coat. He bowed his head to the slim arms round his neck and the prayers that were wept in his ear. Her dear friend said nothing but made soothing sounds as one placates a child about death.

The general lifted his face through the rain of ashen hair. "I accept my fate and take my punishment. I only ask one thing." Emerald flooded the waste of that place, bringing a hint of chill to the air. "Do not hurt her." He turned to his rose for only a moment, and she slid moonlight locks from his face. "I will kill anyone here who tries and then rot in that prison forever and more." The sigh shook the great form low on its knees. "Do what you will with me."

The jackal tapped the barrel of a makeshift gun before brushing against a length of chain. His cronies folded their arms and spat on the steps, peering at their leader askance.

"Time served." It was grumbled as the crowd grimly nodded.

"Wh-What was that?" Sephiroth stammered. Superior hearing must have failed. Aeris clutched his shoulders, hands stiff on bright armor as her gaze ran like a stream through that throng.

"You served your time." This came from the back, a woman's voice heavy with years.

The general could only gape blinking as in that instant sorrow's tears turned to joy.

"You can thank her mostly." A man stepping forth said whose hair was too young to be grey. "If the last Cetra can forgive you, well…" He gave her a nod. "I don't see how we could do any less."

"It's isn't forgiveness!" the jackal spouted turning red. "It's 'time served.' That's not the same thing at all!"

Sephiroth peered his way, and the man backed up, fear turning his eyes wet and raw. The general didn't see him and for a moment the past freed his mind. He could be guilty and he could be cursed, but he would not be parted from her. All he could know, all he could feel were tiny fingers entrenched in his hair. Turning to Aeris, he gripped the small shoulders and laid his brow to hers.

"Does the damned dare dream of light? Does the fallen dare think this can be?"

"Yes." The word burst from her lips with joy's tears, and Aeris threw herself into his arms. With grace never ending, Sephiroth stood, rising high with his little flower. "The smallest bit of hope will light any darkness. You'll never be chained again."

He kissed her uncaring that they weren't alone, curling his fingers against her smooth cheek. "My deeds will always haunt me, Aeris." He turned briefly to the people in this truth. "But maybe…just maybe, ah, who can say? My heart need not only bear grief…"

She slanted her mouth over his again, then beseeched him put her down. He did with reluctance that made Aeris smile so she kept a tight hold of his hand.

"What will you do now?" she asked Midgar's forgotten, and they rustled like autumn's lost leaves.

"Leave this place." There were no dissenters and it echoed in repeat. In that instant the Followers even seemed part of the crowd for nodding heads in a wave.

"There's no saving it," a young woman spoke up, holding a child in her arms. "And we wouldn't want to anyway. This city…" She peered around at once luxury, folding manors and rusting cars. Her lip curled up and she turned back to the Cetra for fear the sight would make her sick. "It's brought nothing but grief. Maybe," she murmured looking strangely to him, "maybe this is what you should've burned…"

Sephiroth paled so his skin flashed bright white in dusk that turned all else blood red. He shook his head letting his hair cloak his sight as Aeris squeezed his hand.

"We were left below," a street urchin piped up, and though he was older tears still framed his eyes. "But now we have the choice not to be left behind."

Aeris nodded her head in utter agreement to both human and below voice. "You can't build a world on the backs of the bruised and expect it to stand firm. Where will you go?"

"Away, anywhere, far. We'll leave this place forever." It was all voices with that one accord. No one wanted to stay in the city. It truly was dead, rot eaten at heart, but she'd always known that truth.

"I'll shut off the remaining reactors," Sephiroth said. "Here is easier than elsewhere." He lowered his head as Aeris looked up catching him lost in the past. Jade seared his eyes for her pale throat and pulse fluttering beneath his palm. "Is this all of you, though?" He tore himself from distraction as the flower girl forced herself still.

"I…think so," came from Phaedra. "We checked all the sectors and loudly called that the tower was open."

"There may be some people still hiding below afraid it was a trick." The Cetra clasped her hands tight together, beseeching her general. It was unneeded. He knew what she wished and could never deny his rose. _My church, _she thought, _I can see my church for one last, bittersweet time._

To Sephiroth's surprise some of the slum-born went with them, but Aeris was not shocked. When a soul has lived life below the dank stones, they'll help another to reach the light. Many probably expected nothing but death, but even doom was better than darkness. The lights were all blue and colored the drear, swimming along fog and dust. They were in Sector 5 and Aeris almost laughed at how close she had been to freedom, but she knew false mirth would turn to tears and the amount of them bury the slums.

"The doors around the hub are open, too, little one, but I know you wish to see your church, and I…remembered now this was here." He cupped her chin, and she kissed his palm, summer shining with perfect love.

It was overrun with ice white lilies, over the pews and down the nave. The old wood had relented to the army of blooms as light through the stained glass poured. Aeris removed her shoes and wove in between, the earth cool between her toes. She squeezed her hand before her heart and let the lilies feel that beat. Her swaying step led her between broken pews to dusty icons with time worn faces. Saints whose names were long forgotten, martyrs long buried in dust. She was the last and bowed her head humbled for this grace. The altar was broken, but that didn't matter. She still knelt to pray, guarded by an angel who bowed his head, as well. He did not plead to the gods above or the Planet down below. He had nothing to ask for. He had it all and could only be grateful and shamed.

The world's soft music swirled through her soul and Aeris hummed her flower tune. To mortal eyes they would not have moved, and stranger ones were tightly closed, but she saw the vision that sang through her blood, the promise of a far future. Normally the Cetra pushed such aside for she never wished to know, but her dear friend flashed soft in her mind mere pinpricks of what was to come. The tower twisted erupting with green, fallen over by weight of the ages. All the plates caved in by time and not men's greed and cruelty. Where reactors had hummed bees now buzzed. They were needed to tend to her lilies. The husks of those horrors were now home to birds and creatures both gentle and wild. Flowers covered all and hers reigned supreme, but they were kind and benevolent lords. A city of green that smelled only of life, the reek of corruption now cleaned. Her poor church was gone, long fallen away like a shell around purest gold. Its decay had fed what now flowed forth, the green, the good, and the growing.

"Aeris?" a low voice said by her side, and she lifted a face soaked in tears. Sephiroth tilted his head for this salt was not sorrow, but his little flower's sobs called him still. She was still kneeling, her hands clasped before, and he frowned for it seemed she beseeched him. He caught her round the waist and lifted her up, and Aeris held to his solid forearms.

"Will you let the light in?" she asked and he followed her gaze to the window high, stained, and cracked. The church's steeple that pierced through the plate and had allowed her flowers to grow.

_Not just these flowers, _Sephiroth thought touching her brow with his lips. _My flower, too. _He spread his one wing and flew up through sun stained light.

Aeris shut her eyes to the wind of those pinions imagining her brief time in the air. _I can have that again…forever and all. _She clutched a heart that would burst from pure joy. Softest petals tickled her ankles, and she brushed bangs from her uplifted face.

The one-winged angel laid his palm on the glass warm from the sunset behind. Mako roiled behind his halved lids as he drew from the well of that power. A crack appeared grown from one of the holes to connect jagged with another. Fissures and tremors tumbled in stained until a gust of his wing blew them away. Tinkling light song trickled down the old stone, and Sephiroth was washed over with dusk. The rose light caught fire within silver hair, though the flame burned whiter than pale. His black wing showed nothing, not even a glimmer. It had been made to swallow light whole. The sky above was bleeding down on the people that now walked above, and the general sighed again thinking how close his flower had been to the heavens.

His descent was graceful…it always had been, and she led him back out through the lilies. Sephiroth never faltered to step on a bloom, his boots ever careful between. Aeris laced up her shoes with one final look before leaving her church forever.

They found no one in the empty slums but a cold wind that swept the streets. As though the earth knew now was the time to clean and make it new. Sephiroth sniffed and opened his ears, but no other heartbeats flew. Weariness again clung to Aeris's bones through the most destitute corridor. Her protector swept her up and she whispered love that filled his still ailing heart. A sour, dry scent made him turn his head to a passageway duller than stone. The Planet flared a note in its daughter's head, and she asked Sephiroth to set her down. He did so, but kept a hand to her shoulder as Mako light pierced the inside.

"He's dead, little flower. I'm sorry for that." Those gleaming eyes poured their remorse.

"Oh…oh no," she whispered, seeing in sadness what had huddled there. He looked like a mound of sodden grey leaves, the wretch who had warned her, "Get out." Hands flew to her face, and she shook her head not wanted to ponder it, but unable to not. Had the searchers just missed him? Had he been alive, but too afraid to emerge? Had the promise of light come too late?

"Come, little flower." Sephiroth blocked the view that decay was just starting to take. "There's nothing to be done once death's had its due…at least not this time it seems." Aeris nodded glumly to match his regret, her weariness now more pronounced. She allowed him to carry her out and away and must've slept for next she saw light. It was waning as evening took hold, but it was still better than the slums.

"Tell them." She heard that beloved voice say, the low tone that could shiver her skin.

"I will, sir." A higher response.

"It won't last for long. There's only one left. The rest have been shut down forever." Gentle press held her closer and she turned towards that scent that was better than freedom or light. "No more will they torment this world she so loves. Even past death they cause pain."

"Yes, we agree. It won't take too long." A pause and a shuffle, the sliding of feet against soon crumbling stone. "Where will you go, sir?" Her voice quivered the words like a butterfly battered by breeze.

"Home…" he whispered, and Aeris opened her eyes to the wonder on his face. Never in her life had she seen such awe at just that simple word, but he'd never said it for he'd never had it and could barely speak its sacred name.

"The kingdom lies beneath the foundation," the Follower said, ducking her head as she stilled her hands' tremor.

"And the foundation is rotting above," he replied holding her gaze within cold green light.

Phaedra reacted far better than her cronies who could hardly look his way. They were all gathered still near the tower spread out along the stairs. A few sullen glares assailed the Cetra, and Aeris blinked confused. Then his arms shifted and the maid thought, _Oh, _and was embarrassed to be so envied.

Sephiroth backed away to their still rapt attention, gazing at his awakened rose. "Shall we go swift or shall we go swifter?" he asked, tilting his head with a smile. "Either way-" The general passed his gaze along the throng. "-will cause quite the spectacle."

"As fast as you can." Aeris kissed his cheek and rested her own on his shoulder.

He let that warmth battle the twinge in his heart for what was ever unfound. He couldn't blame the Follower whose mind had been held with lies he himself had believed. But as he prepared to sidestep he heard whispered words.

"Phaedra didn't lie to you…and I know where your mother is."

* * *

_Author's Note: Y__ou didn't honestly think I was going to leave Seph dead and Aeris all alone with only that poor shell of a Follower? I'm cruel,but I'm not **that **cruel. I had a question about how the reactors were still working in a previous installment, and, honestly, the only thing I can say is this: I didn't really figure in the events of Advent in this tale, and my assumption was before those above and in control left, they set up some to continue running, thinking it was a "kindness" for those below when rather they _should_ have done something to let them out/open the tower, but then...they might not have known the codes for that. Don't hate me too much for not being too detailed if you are a purist fan.  
_

_The next chapter is entitled **Simple Gifts **and will be posted next Friday August 28._

_Thank you all for sticking with me for this long!_


	24. Simple Gifts

**"…here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children… But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are magi."  
-O. Henry "The Gift of the Magi"**

**Chapter 24  
Simple Gifts**

The Whispers welcomed them always with dusk shadows soft and the ocean itself once again. Sephiroth had brought them back to the beach right in front of her house. Our _house, _he thought with eyes bleeding light. _The fallen can truly dream. _He put Aeris down but drew the maid close where the sea spray joined salt on her face.

"You heard what I said, didn't you, Seph?"

He shut his eyes so beset by torn heart.

"The Planet told me." She glared quite annoyed down, digging a boot into damp sand. "It was keeping the secret like a spoiled child. My petulant, stubborn friend." The world laughed gently like a wise mother who knows the right time to divulge.

"I did, Aeris. How could I not? But you need some time to rest. If you would…" His hair tumbled over blessing her face and he cared not that it tangled with salt. "If you wished, I'd…want you to come."

"Of course I will, Sephiroth! You don't even have to ask."

"How shall I request it then, little flower?" The smile played gentle with his perfect lips, and she blushed as he squeezed her soft waist.

Their house was gleaming in the end of day, catching the last streaks of sun. She inhaled a scent untouched by the slums, vanilla and frost wreathed around. Her slumber in Midgar had really done nothing, and Aeris yawned as he scooped her back up. _This is how it'll be. _She curled into his chest where the sound of his heart was less heavy. _Forever and always. _The Planet soft chuckled as Aeris slept safe in Sephiroth's arms.

She awoke to a better dream in his embrace and kissed his eyes to close. The ribbon was first and her soft hair fell down, teasing his marble flesh. He steadied his hands to not tear her dress as ashen locks tickled her throat. Aeris's fingers still couldn't believe that he was whole again, but not even a scar marked the place where death had torn full through. _Just like me. _Then her thoughts were scattered, as his brow locked to hers.

Rapt concentration ruled Sephiroth's face as he carefully entered his rose. She always had to be gently coaxed open. Ever so willing with each petal soaked, but still she was so fragile. _Only I am allowed this privilege, _he thought in utter awe. _Only I can have her. Only I will. She is forever mine. _He had to go slow to kisses in silver, but gentleness was a gladly paid price. She was so tiny, so very taut. Having her needed sweet patience, but within their union the light curtain was waiting like moonlight in emerald drenched stars. The fallen was more than worthy now, and the song of his name proved that truth. Sephiroth kissed her brow and let his tongue part her lips in afterthought of what she'd allowed.

Aeris just lay there, head flung toward the window, sun painting red on her lids. She thought she heard the shower, but it could've been waves lapping the thirsty sands. The smell of breakfast still made her smile though she lacked the strength to sit up. Opening her eyes, she saw shining darkness, the bundled leather coat. Here were the wounds, large enough for her hands to both fit comfortably through. It made it her sad as the dangling straps brushed her palms with their sundered ends. _Coats can be fixed, _she thought as she heard that low voice calling her name.

Jade struggled fiercely to merely look down at his beautiful, open flower. She'd be ever willing to his every embrace and just as taut as before. Sephiroth found her bathrobe and helped Aeris sit while her kisses blessed him like rain. "I don't think I could behold you like this," he admitted, slipping the garment around, "and not beg for another taste."

"Greatness shouldn't beg." She smoothed back his hair, noticing the bangs were getting longer. He closed the little maid in his embrace and wished memory could be as kind.

"They wanted this once, Aeris…" he murmured to shield hidden pain.

"What do you mean, Sephiroth?" Her slim fingers curled on his chest.

"They wanted me to…breed with you. When _it _was believed to be an Ancient, and I a Cetra, too." He lifted her chin with apology riding the Mako light in his eyes. "When you came of age, but you know what that means…they would've had me rape a child."

The flower girl gazed up with no judgment or fear. "It always comes back to blood." He lowered his face so her skin was washed with silken silver hair. "It doesn't have to be anymore, you know." She laid a palm to his cheek, and his long lashes lifted to give his beloved that light. "They didn't want _this. This _is love and happiness unbound. They wanted a product, another creation to bring them closer to power." She shuddered and Sephiroth kissed her brow to sunder what never would be.

"No one will ever hurt you again, Aeris," he promised, holding the flower maid closer. "You will no longer live in fear. That time is over. Those days are dead. I will always protect you."

"You're my guardian angel." Her laugh was high and sweet, and Sephiroth gently smiled.

"I suppose I am, little one," he said. "There's no penance sweeter than this."

He caught her pink lips as their bangs tangled together, and amid that he swept her up.

"Are you going to carry me everywhere now?" she giggled until he froze. Guilt fell like an iron wall, and Aeris touched his cheek so sorry that she had caused wound. "You know I don't mind. I love it in fact…being wrapped in your strong arms." Those words smoothed away the crease in his brow, and she kissed him to ease the pain. "I would like to shower before eating breakfast." She twirled a moonlight lock.

Sephiroth smiled and carried her there, leaving the Cetra to her ablutions. He noticed his coat still draped on the bed, tracing the rents with narrowed eyes. After showering he'd thrown on his pants and black shirt whose long sleeves covered bracers. Sighing, Sephiroth took the coat to the closet. It really was part of the bitter past, but the general liked it for it had been his. It fit him and contrasted his pale. Though he had no true pride for his appearance, black brought out his beauty the best. The winter skin, the silver hair, and emerald shimmer eyes laid over with dark made everything gleam. He was glad of two closets where he would not taint her own clothing with leather in blood, but then as he hung it, his boot rustled plastic and emerald cast eyes were turned down.

It caught him again, the pink and the red, stained with the blood of the heart. As the shower replenished his flower within, the general gripped that relic. _I'll make this right, too. Always obligation. This first and then finally my last. I'm so sorry, mother. I swear I am coming. I promise you that, but this must come first for she is still living…and I owe her everything._

Aeris wore her white dress to his pleasure as he halved the smolder in his eyes. Somehow as always he knew what she wanted, and lavender tea was the perfect warmth.

"When do you want to go, Sephiroth?" she asked, but he only shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, little one. The dead can always wait."

"But you can't." Aeris caught his hand, gazing up at a face that hid sorrow.

"I waited a lifetime and then some more."

"And that is far too long…"

She yelped to the blare of her ringing phone then huffed in exasperation. "Really?! You'd think the boy would know by now." Sephiroth laughed as he kissed her brow. Aeris sighed, but couldn't help the smile as those gentle lips blessed her skin.

"Well if you do wish to run off with him, you're wearing the perfect dress. Who could resist this?" He lifted her chin and the Cetra frowned at grief barely shielded. "I would be more broken, but I'd only kill him if he hurt you, my little flower-"

"Oh, Seph, stop it!" She caught and kissed his hand. "After all we've been through, after all we've seen, do you really think that would happen? Besides…" Summer softened and Sephiroth slightly smiled at all the matched longing there. "Do you think anyone anywhere in all worlds could compare to the Great General Sephiroth. You make me forget everything with merely a touch, and you're probably not even trying."

He did chuckle at that not trying to hide his pride or relief as he brushed at her neck. "I'm fairly certain I could make you forget your own name without any manipulation…"

"Yes…" she whispered as the world below laughed, spinning light song through her ears. Its rejoicing had not once ceased and she'd had to beg it for some quiet. "B-But I _should _at least talk to him again, face to face. It's only fair…" Her expression was beseeching, and Sephiroth took her hands, unable to accept what he saw.

"You don't ever have to ask me, Aeris, for anything you wish to do. You know I'm not that kind of man." The bright smile made him tilt his head. "What is it, little flower?"

"You called yourself a 'man' and not a monster like you always have before."

"So I did…" He rubbed her soft palms with his thumbs looking over at the uncovered window.

Aeris hopped up and over to him, throwing her arms around his neck. Sephiroth answered without any choice the sweetest demand in the world. She wanted to climb into his lap, but knew that would delay her plans. The general wanted to crush his rose close, but then he'd be lost in her scent. She'd probably fall asleep, which would be an advantage if he could bring himself put her down, but gazing at this innocent in his embrace would be the best gift he could ever receive.

"Alright." She kissed him swiftly, tongue flicking quick. "I'm going to grab my shoes upstairs and go from there. He's usually in the square," she sighed. "I guess waiting." Rolled eyes proved gentle annoyance.

"I'd wait for you, too." He dug beneath her loose hair and kissed his flower back. "Go, little one…before you do not. I'll clean up breakfast. No protests from you, this time." Sephiroth waylaid them before they could form, letting her go as he stood up.

Aeris grabbed his hand as she tilted her head, biting her lip for his magnificence. _Obey his command, you silly girl! Stop mooning like a maid. He'll always be here when you get back and he'll always carry you home. _It was her own voice and not the joyful Planet, and Aeris escaped to skip soft up the stairs. Sephiroth watched her, the warmth on his fingers unfaded by her release.

Frantically, Aeris searched for flat shoes. She wanted to be quick as could be. The sandals she first wore with her current outfit were not meant for swifter travels. They didn't really match, but she found a yellow pair and slipped them on without caring. Whirling to the bed, the flower girl gasped. The great black coat was gone. _How did I miss that when I got dressed?! _She tore through her closet before she remembered. Glancing out the bedroom door, the clink of dishes met her ears. She still had to be fast for at any moment she could always find him before. The last thing Aeris wanted was for Sephiroth to catch her. He deserved this surprise and sliding open his closet she found the coat after rummaging deeply through. _Thank the gods he removed the epaulets. _But she still gasped under the leather's weight. It smelled more like him than dark, bitter blood as she slung the coat around her neck.

Gathering the material in her little hands, Aeris staggered into the hall. The water was running, hiding all sounds, though she'd never hear him anyway. Terrified she would turn her head, and see her inquisitive angel, Aeris forced herself sneak to the house's back door, and didn't breathe 'til she stood outside. The flower maid had no intentions of seeking out Edwin, but she had to go far across town. Near to the pier where the tradesmen dwelled and tanners could be sought.

Sephiroth heard the upstairs door close and ceased his cleaning farce. It never took him that long, which is why he insisted on doing the mundane task. He'd braided his bangs, pulling them back to bind them at his crown. She liked this look and it kept silver hair from obscuring his vision as much. Once upstairs he found the dress swiftly, plastic rustling in his fists. He sidestepped without thought to the center of town, keeping himself below the first. It wouldn't do to appear in the midst and scare the poor townsfolk to death. Neon light cut through thin veined lids, and the general made a decision. Midgar had torn it. He was done with the farce forever and ever more. He opened his eyes to pure, endless emerald uncut save for slivered dark. He was what he was. There was no changing that, and Aeris loved him still.

Stepping into the sun, the sound of his name turned the general's head in shock. He should've been invisible and then realized it was an outside bar's TV. The happenings of Midgar had spread quickly with surprise the city wasn't already abandoned. Sephiroth's curiosity narrowed cat eyes as he approached still hidden within. But the greatest shock came when his name was respoken and vitriol did not lace like a curse. He was…favorably portrayed and the headline asked question, "Has a great hero returned?" The barman grunted at that, wiping down the counter as Sephiroth moved his hands. Glad he was unseen for he must look a fool gaping at the screen. Stepping back and away, he clung to the plastic that re-tethered him to his past grief.

The shop that he needed wasn't too hard for the general to locate. He shimmered into vision behind her back, and the woman attending loudly shrieked when she finally turned.

"I apologize. Please, don't be afraid," he said as she clutched her heart.

"Oh dear gods, dear gods, you're _him._"

"I am." He wouldn't deny.

"And…you saved the people of Midgar." She braced herself against the counter.

"That's more debatable," Sephiroth replied.

"That little Cetra…"

"She's why I'm here." It was the truest response to give.

The woman caught better breath around fear. "We learned about you both in school…" She took tiny step closer with furrowed brow. "I never quite believed you were evil."

"You're very kind," the general allowed, "but I'm not here for that discussion." Ever so slowly he laid the dress down, the plastic crackling like dry leaves. The woman pushed up her wire glasses and glanced down at what he had brought.

"Gods and martyrs…" She jolted back as if the package before would burn.

"You're right about one," Sephiroth mildly said.

"Is that…?"

"It is."

"Can I?"

"Please do." He gestured and was pleased the seamstress held her ground at that.

With utmost care, the woman unwrapped the garment from its cocoon. It was musty and brittle where bright blood had bloomed, but there she did not touch. Sephiroth forced himself to behold what his madness had wrought. The rent was far smaller than should be allowed for what it had taken away. Clean and straight it almost disappeared, but the blood made the story too true. Browned by age there was no scent but the dusky cold of the slums.

"I could fix the holes. They're clean and straight, but there's nothing I can do for the blood."

"I want a new dress made to this form and fit for my flower's small size." She gave him a glance for that sweet epithet, frightened again for those emerald cut eyes. "That's why I brought this. It seemed easiest to show you what I would want. I don't care the cost. Money means nothing. Just tell me when it will be done."

He stepped back home when the business was finished and the arranged pick up had been set. Out of her sight for he didn't want fear to follow him anymore. With luck she would gossip and spread the great tale…after the dress was done. Aeris wasn't back so he walked out to the sea, greeting it like an old friend. Night would come soon and there would be monsters for him to hunt down with the sword. Wryly, Sephiroth considered he really didn't want to without his great leather coat. Red on black and blood on leather, the stains would never show.

His flower returned before dusk did descend and prior to his full blown concern. She was tired and hungry so he asked her no questions though trepidation trembled within. It was singularly impossible for Sephiroth to believe she'd chosen him when he was a monster. He remembered his reference to himself as a man, but there was always that voice to decry. Though Aeris falling asleep in his arms after dinner couldn't help but shatter full grief. The light faded around them as the stars shivered out, and his eyes lent their gleam to the darkness.

Everyone in the Whispers now knew who they were, and to Aeris went deference. She wanted that as much as he wanted the terror that hounded his steps, but she had her magic, his sweet, little flower, and by association tempered all fear. It was smoothed away like a stone in the sea for all knew what he'd done to her.

Their neighbors invited them over some eves to sip spirits until she hid giggles. Sephiroth sadly couldn't get drunk, but the taste of the wine was still sweet. Both Myrna and Nellie (when her children were abed) could barely keep him in their sights. Even alcohol didn't loosen their tongues for how beautiful he was. Both of them would whisper in Aeris's ear, silly as simple schoolgirls, while the general raised a brow. He could hear every word, but figured discretion would serve him in this case. The flower girl always meant to ask them if their parents had escaped from Midgar. The Whispers were only fifty years old if the bellhop could be believed. But in warm light surrounded by friends and love, Aeris realized it didn't matter.

She was saved the indignity of stumbling home by Sephiroth who was always sober.

"You're drunk, little flower," he said quite amused to her splayed in his embrace.

"And you're beautiful…" She tried to pull herself up for a kiss, but missed and hit his jaw.

The general chuckled, shaking his head. "Am I now? Did you do this quite often?"

She managed to whisper something in his ear that would make a Wall Market whore blush.

"I think that would be a very poor idea given your current state." He kissed her brow, but said this in all seriousness, opening the top door to their house. Soft darkness yielded before his brilliant eyes, and she was already asleep in his arms.

As the days turned to weeks the flower girl wondered when her general would wish to depart. He still watched the window haunted with longing as she slipped her hand into his.

"Whenever you wish, you know we can go," she assured him threading their fingers.

"I know that, Aeris. It will be soon. I'm just…preparing myself for that judgment."

"What judgment, Sephiroth?" She leaned on his arm sliding a palm down silver ash hair.

He only smiled sadly, shaking his head, as his eyes cut the distance like frost.

So Aeris took a wedding much to her relief for her flowers were growing quite wild. Roses and daisies and lilies as well, all mocking sea foam white. They adorned the table and reading room where prose and verse mixed with their scent. Sephiroth had memorized nearly all of her favorites, but the love song was best on his tongue. The blossoms were paired with ribbons far fairer than the one that had long tied her hair.

"Do you need help, Aeris, bearing this over?" he asked with skin tensed for response.

"No, I'll be fine." She soft smiled up, the arranged blooms in her arms.

Sephiroth's gaze was sharp to his rose overburdened and hoped she wouldn't think less of him. _She's done this before, _he forced himself remember, _and I'll only be in her way._

The flower girl was already exhausted after delivery and walking all the way cross town, but she still clapped her hands to the restored leather, as new as the day it was made. By some magic or skill the rents were full gone and the straps were back in their place. Every buckle glittered like stars on the night black skin, and the craftsman allowed greater pride to creep out in what could've been his best work.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" Aeris exclaimed, and the man's grin turned quite sheepish. It wasn't everyday a beautiful woman thanked him most profusely, but he knew who she was (and who she was with. Who else could such a coat be for?), and wasn't foolish enough to believe her gratitude was anything more than it seemed. The leather was placed into a garment bag, and Aeris shouldered it for the long journey back.

"Will you be alright, miss?" the tanner asked, holding open the door.

"Yes, I'll be fine. It is a long walk, but the end reward is more than worth it."

Dusk was descending down on the pier, limning the sky with honey and roses. Aeris took the town's main road that led around Wesker's Square. She fended off offers of succor, polite but adamant. This was her gift and she'd not allow weakness to keep it from being fulfilled. The Cobblestone Way was glimmered in moonlight as her feet scraped along the high bridge. Nellie's light was on and her neighbor waved down when she saw her friend pass by. Aeris weakly smiled without strength left to return the amiable gesture. She was more than grateful for the garment bag now for she felt much less guilty to drag. The flower girl leaned against her back door, cooling her brow for a moment. The knob was slick in sweaty palm, but it finally obeyed her request.

"Little flower?" a low voice called quite close, making Aeris jump.

"Sephiroth? " Her own voice quavered. "W-Why are you up here? Why are you sitting in the dark?"

"I create my own light, little flower, but it pales before you. It pales like a dying black flame."

"I-I thought you'd be downstairs."

"I was waiting for you…"

A burst of strength renewed her step, and Aeris pulled her burden behind. Into the bedroom where a strangled cry had her dropping it full to the floor.

The years peeled away like a stubborn rind concealing a fruit never seen. In past bare before both pink and red but no blood to mar that color. Hung from the canopy, swirling down from their bed was her dress from long ago. The dress that had seen the buds in her church before they had ever bloomed. The dress that had borne the earth on her knees as she knelt to tend to their growth. The dress that had proved her the "pink ingénue" though she was streetwise to the slums. The dress that had held her even past death and wove her blood between its threads. It was here perfect in every seam, and she sobbed as her legs near gave way.

Sephiroth caught her hands gently as he slide to his knees.

"I'm so sorry, little flower." And she would've laughed if tears did not now rule her face. "I invaded your privacy."

"Seph…" Aeris lifted one hand from his and laid it on his cheek. "I think we're far past you 'invading my privacy.'"

He pressed the soft palm into his skin, half-smiling to answer, "Indeed."

"H-How did you do this? How did you know-"

"Do you want to ensure it fits?" The only light in the bedroom came from his eyes and the moonlit sea casting shadows. He remedied that with a gesture, flooding the room with softer white.

The flower girl nodded so he rose with grace, whispering gently, "May I?"

She'd always say yes and didn't once shiver to the chill on her back when bare. The jade made her smile, fed heat by his heart, but he whirled to close hands on the dress. Sephiroth was sad to hide her perfection but knew she'd allow sight again. Now was her time to bask in a memory he only hoped would be sweet. _Let her remember what these clothes were and not what I took away…_

Twirling in emerald, slivers held her perfect, unblinking, unhindered, and still.

"I never knew beauty until I saw you." The light rode along his long lashes. Aeris rushed toward him, clutching great hands and stood on tiptoe to reach for a kiss. Her hair was high braided with bound ribbon white, while their bangs tangled as tight as their tongues.

"Sephiroth…" she murmured against his lips in the darkness made by his shut eyes. "I…have something for you, too." His half grin was quite mischievous, but then she stepped and turned away. The general found cause in that to bless the seamstress for the dress fit every curve. He tightened his hands behind his back when she bent to pick something up, but then curiosity tilted his head for the strange bundle there. "Ah, it's so heavy…"

He relieved her struggle, looking the garment bag up and down. Glancing over his shoulder while she bit her lip, Sephiroth hung it where her dress had been. The canopy creaked to greater weight, and nothing prepared the general for shock when he did unzip.

"A-Aeris…what is this? Did you…did you truly…?" He stripped the covering from the leather, and his eyes cut the black as they raced.

"I did. You deserve it. I know how you love it-"

"Not even a fraction of how I love you."

She wrapped her arms around his one. "I know that you still missed it. Well?" She gazed up at him with a grin through her tears. "Aren't you going to try it on, too?" Silver pulsed with emerald as he turned to her, and she found herself asking, "May I?"

The Great General sank back to his knees so his little flower could reach. Her delicate fingers undid the buttons as she swam in his eyes without fear. Alabaster skin was still as smooth beneath her palms, every muscle still just as distinct. He caught her hands and kissed them, still awed by the praise that flowed endlessly from his rose. Standing he swirled the coat over his shoulders and shook silver hair free from its clutch. Like moonlit fire it flowed down his back and called hidden gleam from each buckle. Aeris fixed the straps on her tiptoes while Sephiroth gazed motionless down. She'd left her top buttons open, and the sight right below stilled his breath.

"So you managed this by lying to me about seeing another man?" The mirth helped tame the want a bit, though Aeris gasped as he caught her.

"Well," she considered, teased by his scent as she laid her head over the straps. "He's not _really _a man."

"You know what I mean, little one."

"Are you angry at me?" Her worry made mirth break in rue.

"Angry. Aeris…you fixed the coat I killed you in."

"And you replaced the dress in which I died."

Sephiroth held his flower closer, lowering his head to her brow. A sudden memory made him smile, and the surprise in that made it more pure.

"Dinner's waiting downstairs. You must be hungry. This coat is too heavy for you."

"It was quite a task." She shook away sleep for her belly demanded attention.

"Then…let us go."

She was insatiably curious why it was dark as he led her down the stairs. _I suppose he doesn't need to turn on lights. They're really for my benefit. _That made her wonder why he'd failed in that now when the table came into view. If the sky had been clearer the stars would've mourned in misery to be so mocked. He widened his eyes, letting Mako light sweep over the banquet of glittering bright.

Aeris had never seen so many rings. They near spilled off the surface. Silver and gold and platinum bands of every different type. And the stones…the myriad stones would make a miner weep. Each cut, each shape, each twist of the band adorned the dining room table. She tried to speak, she truly did, but the effort made her shake. She leaned on a chair as emerald glow lit every facet of this offering. Normal light waned in his gleam on the rings, but Sephiroth still lit them for her. Aeris could barely see him so blinded by tears, as beauty washed in blur. He was at her level, down on one knee as he took the Cetra's hands.

"I wasn't sure which one you'd want, so I just bought them all."

* * *

_Author's Note: __I need to mention the quote for this chapter since that story inspired this sweet interlude. _The Gift of the Magi _by O. Henry is a far sadder tale than this installment. It's very short and I highly recommend you read it. The google shall provide you with the link if you so wish, as I cannot do so here. The quote is from the final lines. I figured they were appropriate for this exchanging of gifts :)  
_

_Seph not being able to become intoxicated is a part of my quite extensive headcanon about him and it's based on concepts from two other fandoms. One, he's an angel (Dogma) and two, he's a super soldier (Captain America). As much as he's gone through, you'd think the universe wouldn't be that cruel. I; however, am _**_not _**_the universe and figured I'd give our fair couple some sweet satisfaction to make up for the hell I put them through._

_The 25th and final chapter will be posted next **Thursday **(yes, not Friday, and I'll explain why when it happens) September 3. It is called **Doorways of Light.**_

_Until then I thank you; the story is almost at an end._


	25. Doorways of Light

"**For small creatures such as we,  
The vastness is bearable only through love."  
-Carl Sagan**

"**The only way out of a labyrinth of suffering is to forgive."  
-John Green "Looking for Alaska"**

**Chapter 25  
Doorways of Light**

The Icicle Inn was warmer than its title within Winterborough town. A hot springs lay beneath it like blood in a heart to fight the ever cold. Sunlight was waiting, though it would be brief to disturb the northern lights. A fiery line on the edge of horizon while the aurora shimmered above. Aeris tried not to blink for missing these moments was like shunning the Planet's gifts. This bright in between where sun and the night lights could ever so briefly meet. Before the tall window, she rested her palms on the larger ones at her waist. Weaving them together, the gleam caught her eye for what now adorned her left.

Aeris had sobbed for nearly an hour the night they'd exchanged their gifts, and Sephiroth had held her and apologized much to the Cetra's chagrin. She'd shaken her head and attempted to speak, but coherence was lost within tears. They'd turned moonlight more grey and that made her weep harder to stain such lovely hair. She clung to his neck while he rubbed her back, murmuring words of comfort. The guilt in his voice pierced innocent heart, and Aeris finally found words for that.

"I can't believe you did this. How do you even exist?"

"Have I displeased you, little flower?" The question low rolled in her ear. "Ah, how I could I even think-"

"Stop that right now!" Aeris pulled herself back, quick wiping the wet from her eyes. She rested her hands on his solid wall shoulders, blinking the blur from the vision before. Sephiroth's lips were parted so stalled from the harsh words he bore for himself. "Do you know how wonderful you are, how terribly sad, how utterly beautiful?" She laid a palm to his cheek framed in between reflected light from the table's gleam. "Do you know how much I love you? There aren't enough words in a million tongues."

"Aeris…" He covered the hand on his skin, curling long fingers around. "My heart is forever broken, but you've conquered every part. I'm bound to you, little flower…by blood, by time, by love."

Tiny fingers tangled in moonlight and ashes as tears painted her cheeks once again. "You know the answer is obviously yes."

He clutched his heart for he did not, but still stood when Aeris asked. She'd accepted him…she'd actually said yes. It couldn't be believed. If Sephiroth shut his eyes, if he blinked once, he'd awaken in his cage. Shackled to the floor, shocked beyond pain, tortured for all time. _I deserve that not my life with this flower. Oh Aeris… _He could wait no longer. Drawing her close he bent for the kiss that sealed the promise of those rings. This was the only safe place to be blind as she molded herself against his chest. _Is this my ever penance then? Watching over this little rose? It's more than I could ever deserve, more than I'd ever hoped for…_

"My beautiful flower…" he whispered on her lips.

"My beautiful angel," was her reply.

Growing light caught the ring that shone on her finger with its setting like a rose. A flawless diamond bound to its heart with emerald leaves growing around. It was the one she had chosen completely nonplussed that he'd purchased the entire store. _Or stores. I wouldn't put that past him. He can sidestep after all…he could've gone to a hundred jewelers…_and a quick sob had caught in her throat. "How did you know my size?" she'd asked and he'd held up his forefinger and thumb. Aeris blinked at the small span of space until he slid her ring finger between.

"I remembered, little flower," he'd told her then. "It was just a matter of finding that size. Your hands are so very small." The smile had lit his face even brighter than his eyes. "That sentiment was expressed quite often…in addition to delighted surprise." He shrugged peering at the rejects, but Aeris insisted that they be returned. Money might mean nothing to him, but that didn't mean it should be wasted.

The rising sun silenced the lights from above, but the Cetra could still hear their cold song. She shut her eyes while Sephiroth gazed down with enough emerald to fill the black night. The hum of the Planet pulsed through her veins, whispering secrets so long held. _My petulant friend, you could've told this before when he first went to look. Why be so cruel? Why hold this truth? Hasn't he suffered enough? _She sighed, but she knew why it had to be. There was always an order to things. Sephiroth held her closer as his hair tumbled over, caressing her neck and chest. The flower girl tilted her head back and up, the shiver of silk parting her lips.

"Shall we go then?" she asked him, and his heart did not speed, but beat a low pulse of pure grief. His final judgment, the oldest of all was hidden among endless snows, and yet she could find it. He trusted her so, but only nodded for doubt in his voice. "She used to dwell behind a waterfall further south, but now…" Aeris peered through the glass and raised her thin fingers, forcing the frost to part. "She needed the cold. She yearned for the silence…to empty herself of the pain."

Sephiroth clasped his own wrist with her still in his arms, squeezing bones that would never break. His eyes cut the distance through sunlight and cold, searching mountains so shrouded in snow.

The counter clerk could barely keep his gaze steady upon the striking pair. His hands shook while trying to check them out, and he took note of their differing dress. She was bundled and cozy and clearly too warm within the environs of the inn. Pink flushed cheeks and a beaded brow gave slight discomfort away. He was wearing a coat, a great black coat with silver hued epaulets. His chest was bare save for leather straps and where the buckles clasped. The clerk swallowed for everyone knew who they were, but part of his job was to be polite.

"You'll be heading south I suppose?"

"No, our path lies north."

"Who goes north when winter is nigh?" Incredulity made his words echo, drawing all eyes toward the desk.

Sephiroth raised a silver brow and the man hunched in on himself. "Someone with something to find."

Aeris pulled up her hood before they went outside and fixed the scarf around her mouth. It lessened the bitter chill of the wind, but she still felt it cut to her bones. Winter fingers streamed through Sephiroth's hair, painting silver light against a clear sky. The cold didn't reach him as he held her gloved hands, lending his warmth to the fabric.

"Take me to my mother, Aeris." The whisper was wreathed with mist. "Let the final judgment be done."

She would not weep. It was too cold, and the daylight would not last. Even now the sun hung low on its apex, but the night was made for lights. Aeris took his hand where heat spread full through her glove and let the Planet lead the way.

It was a world born amidst snowflakes and dreams, lost in a sea of whirling white. Even beneath daylight that swiftly turned rose, the pale encased it all. Like a giant's frosty bauble that had been shaken up so did the wind toss and twirl. It caught the snow field in a dance beneath the empty sky. No new flakes fell from pale wane blue but the gale would have its fun.

Aeris relinquished her lead to Sephiroth for his eyes could cut through cold mist. Still hand in hand as the sea of snowflakes fell on flawless skin. He was made for winter. It lived in his hair, and he was north by the light in his eyes. The cold neither troubled him nor stole his warmth as Aeris struggled to breathe around, and at some point (though she could not have told when) he swept her up into his arms. He was so warm she forgot the cold briefly until the wind shivered between her clothes. The voice of the Planet still sang in her heart, beckoning the Cetra toward truth, and though she spoke not, he must have felt it radiating beneath her skin. The daylight died, but that didn't matter for the pathways of light were waiting. Aeris had to look up despite winds more bitter than the flawless steel, but where the lights fell down from heaven, they were the same color as his eyes.

"They're not still…" Aeris whispered within a pillar of frost. "They move, they shift, they shiver and pulse, and the color is more than green."

"Yes," Sephiroth answered, "you can see on the edges, crimson like dusk on fire." A gentle spray of pure snowdrops melted on winter white skin. They caught in his lashes and fell like cold tears down his exquisite face. "I wish I could view this with sight unjaded, but how could that ever be?" Sadness tinged the beauty and awe as the general's boots shushed below. The mountain reared up as the night air hummed to the cold embrace of the stars. Beyond the green veil that Aeris half swore contained another far world. When she blinked though it shimmered away and light beasts cavorted above.

Sephiroth opened his wing and the threads of aurora sought that lightless spread. It could never be touched as the wind of its beat scattered snowflakes that wished to be stars. They stalled in their yearning to hang in the air like the embers of winter flame. Aeris clung to his neck, but her eyes owned the sky. "I've never seen the world so alight." She turned back to him and there it was, reflecting on unto eternity. Light to light and love to love as she warmed her lips on his own. He laid a hand on her cheek to keep the kiss chaste for moisture would call bitten frost. A twinge from the world had her looking away, and he followed her summer sight.

There was a path, but it was winding and buried by ageless snow. Only a spirit in absolute pain could traverse that tortuous way. Sephiroth alighted down on the lip of the stone leading down into darkness. A rocky awning covered in snow framed the bleak passage there. Aeris was grateful she was in his arms for she didn't trust her feet. Endless snow and eternal ice blazed green beneath dual glow. She buried her face in the scent of his hair as the wind tried to claw off her face. Sephiroth more than obliged by holding her closer, though he was troubled by the speed of her heart. His feet were steady. His step was sure. He had his flower to protect. Stepping through the threshold, their dual pounding hearts echoed that dark vestibule.

Aeris shook lingering snow from her hair as the general set her down. Echoes and drippings harmonized with the wind which whistled in between. Sephiroth kept a tight grip on Aeris's hand, his skin rigid as flawless marble. She couldn't remove her gaze from his hair adorned by a myriad snowflakes. He'd hidden his wing, but his coat caught the black splashed with silver against his chest. Matching what shivered down from the heavens his eyes gave him his only true hue, but as she looked at him, he grew lost within, face stricken and terrified.

Aeris called his name, but he didn't look down. He wet his lips so they shone a pale pink.

"Here we stand…beneath the lights, and I can't face this truth…"

She placed her other hand in his and lifted her summer eyes up. The wind swirled snow as if to answer that verdant, rebellious green. "You can't live your life being afraid of what you are." Her lifted face called his eyes and his hand put warmth back in her cheek. Long bangs met her own as he bowed his head, regaining a small portion of himself.

"And she has lingered too long forgotten like a dream of the dead." Sephiroth bent to kiss Aeris's brow and in the brief time that she shut her eyes, the flower girl forgot the cold. They were back by the sea and the wind just swirled sand and not snow in starlight rush. "Come, little flower. Now shall we go?"

"Seph…no." She tugged on her hand, but this time he did not release. Only paused to look quizzically down as the air seemed to whisper, _My son_. "This is for you. How could I enter in?"

The Great General tilted her chin in the air, shaking his head to her self-doubt. "It was your wisdom that led me here, Aeris. I would be lost without you."

The cave held chill in its very stones, but it was at least out of the wind. It should've been darker through the narrow passage even augmented by Mako light, but the hum of the Planet lightened her heart and perhaps lent some sight to her eyes. Sephiroth held her hand from behind as he slowly led the way. It was dry at least, also with barely a drip and less damp than a basement below.

The general swiftly stopped as though he'd turned into statue, and his clothes and his hair just adorned. Emerald light flooded a dark lonely space as music trickled through Aeris's mind. The first note stung tears from summer washed eyes, a sorrow to end all the ages. Emptiness, promise, fulfillment of time, loss and unbearable longing. But longing for what was hidden from her within the strains of that beautiful song.

Sephiroth expected bones or even a marker if her body had ever been found. Men were ever curious creatures to explore the coldest of wastes. What he didn't expect was a doorway of light and the presence that dwelled still within. Like a crystalline coffin set in the stone floor, but not encasing the dead. But neither the living. No, not that either…Lucrecia dwelled in between.

Aeris opened her hand, and he slipped from her grasp, lips parted in sudden young face. Time shed its skin, but left him there wanting for never had it contained her. He dragged his feet as though trudging toward battle that could never be won. Raising the hand that had encased Aeris's, Sephiroth slid it against the pane. Agony curled it as he shut his eyes, and his head bowed against incandescence. The light held steady, and from within issued forth a shuddering, weeping sigh. A shadowy limb that hid gleaming beneath seemed to flow from that open door. It laid itself atop of silvery head, the spirit touch of gentle fingers.

"_I carried life inside of me, but now that child is gone…"_

The words were not spoken, but they could be heard not with the ears but with the soul. Aeris clasped her hands before. The prayers ere sent had been mere shadows of what she poured into the earth, and her dear friend whispered lullaby, the saddest song to sooth.

Emerald light bled down flawless features. "I'm not gone…I'm right here. I'm right here by your side."

"_They took what I had from me." _The fingers soft tangled in his hair. _"I never once saw your face. Only in nightmares, a hell full of dreams, the bottomless pit of corruption."_

The fallen bowed his head ever lower, gritting his teeth until his jaw ached. "You were cursed to birth me. I apologize for that."

The gentle touch still caressed moon silver and peace tried to cut through the pain. _"I would give anything…all that I had to take back what I wrought." _Sephiroth's head jerked up at those words and the light betrayed his tears. Twin lines shimmered from the outside, and he opened his mouth but nothing would come. _"I ran away, but you deserved a mother. You deserved to know the truth."_

He'd come for forgiveness. He'd come to face guilt. Amorphous hands now brushed his cheek. They passed through his tears and left love behind, but Sephiroth did not dare to touch.

"_I wept for you."_

"Why?" he asked, and pain strangled his voice lower.

"_Because you were my son. For only that reason I love you. How could I blame you for how you'd been made? That wasn't your fault." _The light grew pale. _"Do you forgive me?"_ He shook his head, but not to deny, and his fist could've crushed rock to dust. _He _should be begging. He who had never even known his true mother's name, but he saw in his heart her shade looking down desperate for absolution.

"There's nothing for me to forgive you for. You gave me life. I gave you sorrow. I am the one who should be begging." He opened his eyes and Aeris was right there, tears manifold on her soft face. She took his hand and that touch from beyond could only bless their union.

"_If you forgive me then I can go free, and my pain can finally end."_

He stared stark and broken for he was a failure. This thing he could never give. The words could be formed and they could be spoken, but the fallen cannot forgive. The tiniest fingers wove through his own, and Aeris smiled up through her tears. She squeezed his hand hard, and Sephiroth shut his eyes, elation filling him to the core. There wasn't enough light in all worlds for this, and it mattered not that it wasn't his. The only forgiveness he had was hers. He had nothing else to give.

"I forgive you…" he whispered, words strange on his tongue, but they turned his soul to light, and love it shines right from the heart and burns far hotter than wrath. It flooded that portal, that crystalline pane until it could hold no more shadow. Trailing fingers along his pale cheek left the imprint of memory there, as the doorway went dark, and that long ailing spirit was free of her torment at last.

Sephiroth fell to his knees and Aeris cried out, terrified her angel was dying, but grief so long carried must still be spent, though his tears had frozen again. Looking up he saw only stone, empty as moonless night. Memory caught him, and he turned to Aeris who was gripping his shoulders tight. "Your ribbon and lily. Love's gifts to me. May I-"

"Do with them what you wish," she wept. "I could think of no better use."

The ever bloomed flower gleamed in his hand, and he slipped his coat down for her. Through shrouded in mist, her sight was unneeded to unwind the fabric from his arm. Still kneeling the general found craggy outcrop and bound his offering there. The frayed pink was fairer than a joyous bride and the lily mocked forgotten snow. Sephiroth stood and held his rose tight, and she basked in the sweet, cloying scent. This place was as holy now as her church, even more so for what had been gained.

As they left what wasn't a tomb and stepped into frozen, falling light, Aeris blinked up, and Sephiroth was alarmed for her already freezing cheeks.

"What's that on your face Aeris?" he asked.

"Starlight…" She smiled despite the cold. "Are you satisfied, my love?" She leaned against his side for both his comfort and warmth. The Great General halved his lids looking down, but lessened no inch of gleam.

"I have been forgiven, Aeris, and then I gave that to her…but it doesn't diminish, it ever burns on like the northern lights or love."

"Are you sad though that you didn't really see her?" She peered up as night froze on her skin. Sephiroth pulled the little Cetra close, pressing his hand to her exposed cheek.

"I thought I'd only find a grave." He only glanced briefly back, but there was nothing there now. What remained of Lucrecia was locked in his heart. "But I was blessed to find so much more…I set her free." He gazed up in wonder and let aurora and cold bathe his face. "Freed by forgiveness." Sephiroth shook his head. "She was waiting for that this whole time…I wish I could've seen her face…when she was finally free."

"She was beautiful," Aeris told him.

"How do you know?"

"Because…all mothers are."

He picked her up then and stepped back to their beach where the sudden warmth pinkened her skin. The eve was quite cool, but it was such a contrast to the frozen north it left Aeris in awe. The flower maid pulled herself close to her love and kissed him on the cheek. He let his gaze linger north, but it wasn't forced there anymore.

"The past can be forgiven, but never forgotten," he realized. "She'll never be forgotten again."

"I think it was worth it, worth it to her to finally see your face."

"Do you think she was proud, Aeris?" He jerked his gaze down, holding the little maid tight. "Do you think she was proud that I was her son?"

The flower maid kissed him in response to answer with love, and no words could've soothed his heart better. The smile he bore when Aeris pulled away was the truest one she'd ever seen. Through the residue of tears he returned it first soft and then firmer as he clutched her small hand. The waves shushed behind as he carried her away to their beautiful house right behind.

"My joys now conquer my many griefs," he told her, unsure how to accept this strange truth. "It's the triumph of morning over night when the night grows ever longer. It's the dream of hope when you've nothing but dine on utter despair." Those stars still rained down, bleeding from dark, and there was light in between. Aeris laid little kisses on his neck, creeping up past his jaw to his cheek. Sephiroth caught her lips as he leapt up the porch with emerald and jade unbound. Tilting his head, he shook away silver as he wore a half made smile. "Monsters don't get happy endings, though."

"Well I guess that proves you aren't one." Aeris grinned so satisfied. He kissed it away, making it a moan and chuckled before biting her lip. Cradling his flower in one arm, he opened the door to the scent of home. She laid her head against his shoulder where the smell mixed with vanilla and frost. Then she realized they were one. _He's home, _she thought as Sephiroth again closed both of his arms around her.

"My heart is lit from within, Aeris," he whispered. "I never knew such joy could be. We all have grief. We all carry despair, but these things are not all we are."

That night he actually shut his eyes and allowed himself to sleep. Her skin to his kept away nightmare, though they still hissed along the edges. Utterly defeated by one little maid with her soul brighter than infinite worlds. When the morning arose and he opened his eyes, his first thought wasn't of death. It was of his flower who murmured his name and curled tiny fingers against his chest. Spilled moonlight and ashes covered them both as chestnut washed his skin. _I'm…worthy and they cannot touch me so long as she's by my side. I have my little flower, and my true mother is free. You can't take forgiveness. It can only be given when one is worthy to receive. _Sephiroth shut his eyes again without fear for the light there held no monsters. It was as though he had dreamt of the tree of life and awoke with an apple in his hand.

_**The End**_

_**Northern Lights**_

_**9/3/14**_

* * *

_Author's Note: And so the tale comes to a close. Of course it has a happy ending...how could it not? They went through hell and crawled through darkness, they deserve a joyous end. The reason I posted on Thursday instead of Friday is because 9/3/15 is exactly a year to the date I finished the story, as seen at the ending above, and I thought it would appropriate to finish it here, as well.  
_

_I have a few music suggestions for you. The first one is for when Sephiroth finds his true mother Lucrecia. Laugh if you wish, but the song_ Oh Danny Boy _as performed by Laura Wright is absolutely exquisite for that moment (you can look it up on YouTube), and if_ Northern Lights _were a movie (haha, oh it is to laugh), I envision the end credits being Mary Fahl's _Gravity, _(YouTube again will provide) and nothing will convince me otherwise._

_I will level with you all; this chapter makes me cry uncontrollably. When I did my edit on Sunday, I had to walk away twice to distract myself. There are a few lines that just break me, which there are reasons behind._

_I don't have enough words to thank you all for reading this story. It was a labor of love and something that was in my head for a very long time. I knew I needed to write of a happy reunion between Sephiroth and his true mother, because it bothered me beyond what I can explain that he never had this information. It is a very specific motif in a narrative that digs beneath my skin and won't let me have any peace. It irks me in ASOIAF/GOT, as well with Jon Snow never finding out his truth. It would change things in both narratives, and therein lies the irony. The things it would change are integral to the silence in the stories, so it _must _be kept, but...it doesn't mean my heart isn't broken. I believe this is the mark of an epic tale where you wish you could change something to save a character pain, but by doing so you ruin the tragedy. It is a bitter incongruence._

_Though Northern Lights is at an end, my dealings with it are not. As I edited I took excessive notes that include discussions of sources and inspiration among other things. Quite often I go off on tangents about ASOIAF (more than quite) and anything else that pops into my head. So if you're interested in my maddening thought process, you will not be disappointed. I am also considering doing an audio recording of the story and have done several tests on this. So if you enjoyed this and want to hear more about it, you're in luck! If you hated it but continued reading it anyway (?) or have no interest in my editing process, well, um, I suppose you don't have to read them. There will be other content :)_

_A thousand more thank yous to everyone who stuck with me through this entire tale. Your follows, favorites, and comments kept me going. This was not an easy story to write for many reasons, but I truly felt it was something that had to be told.  
_

_All of my best to all of you  
_


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